The Little Turtle
by anniewanny2
Summary: A rewrite of my story "Theng Sjen". A little human girl is being raised by Splinter and the turtles. Experience what's it like to grow up in the sewers of New York. (WARNING for the occasional curse word)
1. The new sibling

Hey everyone, I know I said to some of you that I wouldn't post this story until I updated some of my other ones. But seeing as I'm having some writers block with those, I'm going to post a few chapters of this one already.

Basically this is a rewrite of my original Theng Sjen story, because I got up with some more stuff I wanted to do with the story and it just wouldn't fit with the other one. I just want to say thank you to icecreampopstar, who kept Theng Sjen alive and made her own version of the story (she has currently a haloween story about Theng Sjen, you should check it out!), she's also the reason I started writing this story. Also ComicGeek and nic2mad, who are the reason this story got posted so soon!

My writing style changed a little over the years, I don't know if it's for the better though ^^ , I hope you like it and I'm looking forward to your reviews. I want to encourage everyone who has idea's and as long as you say it in a polite way I have absolutely no problem with criticism. Any how, I hope you enjoy this story.

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><p><strong>The little turtle :<strong>

_Love shines, brightest in the dark. (Avatar)_

1) The new sibling.

This day reminds me of the last vague memories I have left of my rodent existence, before I was mutated. The day that changed my fate. I remember the four little creatures, helplessly flawing around in a strange green substance. I do not know what drew me to them, but I could remember that I felt something that I now know is called pity. So I gathered the little turtles in a coffee can, what I also remember is getting covered myself in the ooze from which I rescued them.

The next morning I noticed the changes in both myself and the creatures that I now consider my sons. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo … even back then I knew they were going to be a handful. Still now almost four years later, I could not love them more. I'm trying to teach them the way of Bushido, the path of the ninja. In order to protect them for the harsh life they will no doubt live, still there are some hardships that even the most excessive training cannot protect you from and I am staring at one now.

I have four sons, that makes me a father and as a parent I cannot comprehend that one would just cast away his or her child like this. For I am staring down at a helpless bundle of blankets which contains a screaming little baby. Like my sons once, this infant's fate is resting in the palm of my hands. But abandoning a baby is a sin I cannot forgive anyone, including myself. It takes a special kind of coward to walk away from an innocent like this.

My heart went out for this little one as I sheltered it from the harsh and moist grounds of the sewers and placed it protectively in my robe.

"Don't worry little one, I shall take care of you. You will have a family and you will be protected, this I can promise you." I spoke gently, the little one was still crying, most likely it was hungry. I will have to go topside to steal some milk from a warehouse, it is against my principles to take something that isn't mine, it is not honor full to steal. But family has to come before pride.

The cheeks of the infant were red from all the screaming and it would be a while before it calmed down. I decided to drop the baby off at home first before I continued with my scavenging, it would draw too much attention to us with all the wailing.

I tried to soothe it as best as I could while I journeyed back home. It stopped for a while to stare back at the new stranger, but after a while it satisfied its curiosity and continued to cry.

As I entered our home my sons quickly came to see what all the commotion was about.

"Master Splinter, master Splinter !" Michelangelo was the first to speak. "What is that, it makes a lot of noise, is it a toy?" he asked.

I lowered myself so they could get acquainted.

"Boys, this is a human baby, I found it in the sewers like I found you four years ago and like you this child will be part of our family" I said to them and I almost smiled at the awe that spread across their faces.

"But master, you said that humans were bad, that we had to stay away!" Donatello asked.

"This one is different, it has no home and no parents." I explained.

"So we will teach it to be a good human, master?" Leonardo asked.

"Not all humans are bad my son, but yes we will teach it to become good." I said. The little one chose now to raise its voice again, the four of them were startled and jumped away to a safe distance.

"That thing is bad, it's making too much noise!" Raphael yelled over the screams of the infant.

"The child cannot help it, my sons, please watch over this little one for a while. I'll go topside and get some food." I placed the baby on some cushions, drawn to the newest addition to our family my sons followed.

"Why is it sad, master Splinter, is it hurt?" Michelangelo asked.

"No my son, it is just hungry, which is why I'll hurry, this child has probably gone a while without food." I placed the strap over my shoulder and went outside. "I will be back as soon as possible, it is your responsibility to watch over your new sibling, you are big brothers now and it is your job to protect it." they all seemed to take their new task quite seriously and bowed to me.

I left them and went topside.

Back in the lair.

"Hey, please don't cry, master Splinter is going to get us food ! You'll like that, my name is Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey." I said to the little pink human, it stopped crying and looked at me.

"Finally it stopped" Raph said and uncovered his ears.

"Come on Raph it can't help it." Leo said.

"Yeah well, if its hungry why doesn't it just say so?" he countered.

"Babies can't talk yet Raph, they have to learn" Donny said. The little one started to cry again.

"Of come on, shut it up already!" he yelled, that only made the human scream louder.

"Oh come on pinky stop crying, please, I know you are hungry but food is on its way." I tried again. It seemed to help when you talked to it.

"Pinky?" Donny and Leo asked.

"Well we might as well give it a name, I don't think it's nice to call Pinky an it all the time" I smiled at Pinky and he or she continued to look at me, I kinda like the attention. "Hey you meet your other brothers, that's Leo and Donny and over there is Raph sulking."

"I ain't calling it Pinky, just find out if it's a boy or a girl" he said and came closer to find out.

"How can you tell?" I asked. Raph just ignored me and continued to study Pinky.

"Well I think it's a girl, with all the crying and all." Raph said.

"That can't be right? We cry too sometimes" Donny said and he too came closer to determine the gender of our new sibling. Soon Leo joined us and we made two fronts. Donny and Raph thought Pinky was a girl and Leo and I were sure Pinky was a boy.

Pinky grabbed my finger and I could not let it loose, shell he was still holding onto it. Conclusion, strong it's a boy, simple as that.

"You are a boy aren't you, I just know you are, I always wanted a little brother" I spoke to Pinky when he began to cry again.

"No way a boy isn't whimpy like that, she's a girl, we have a stupid little sister, moron at least someone is weaker than you" Raph countered.

"Hey HE will grow up like us in the way of the ninja Raph, and who knows he'll definitely defeat you one day" Leo said to defend our new little brother like master Splinter ordered us too.

"It's hard to tell but girls have a slightly smaller face and hands, so if I have to guess girl, it could also be because Pinky had so little to eat the last couple of days and all human children look alike, but still those eyes are too cute to be a boy!" Donny explained, he spend most of his time reading, stupid boring books and knew all kinds of things. Still he was right Pinky had very, very dark ocean like blue eyes.

"Hey, I have blue eyes too! Pinky is a boy!" and so on and so on. We argued until master Splinter returned.

I found my sons fighting over the gender of the infant, they even nicknamed the little one already. Though I doubt the little one would be comfortable being called Pinky, I should meditate on that later. Right now I think it is time that we feed the poor soul.

I warmed up some milk for the child and placed it in a bottle. I paid close attention to all the descriptions on the backside of the package. See it's not too hot, don't let the baby have too much too soon, burp the baby after feeding …

"Come on little one" I picked the child up and was amused that he or she refused to let go of Michelangelo's finger. That was of course until I started feeding it. I felt angry again when the baby continued to suckle even after it consumed all the substance in the bottle, he or she obviously went a while without food. "I'm sorry that is all for today" I smelled that I had to perform one last task before I could put him or her to sleep.

With some clean cloths I had washed before, I made a new, clean makeshift diaper for the baby and with that dissolving the argument my boys continued to have.

"My sons, say hello to your little sister" I said when, she snuggled into my fur and fell asleep.

"Sister? No master it's a boy!" Michelangelo argued. Raphael and Donatello high fived and were happy that they guessed right.

"Mikey, if master Splinter said Pinky is a girl, she is a girl" Leonardo said to his brother.

"Now, boys of to bed it's late already." I ushered them to their sleeping places.

"Master can Pinky sleep with us too?" Michelangelo asked, I smiled at him. He already considered this little one as part of the family, he always was a very open child.

"No, Michelangelo, she will stay with me, she will wake me up a couple more times tonight and I want you all to get enough rest." I explained, but I could see that my explanation only roused more questions.

"But wh…" he continued.

"I will answer all of your questions in the morning, but now you should go to bed." He pouted a bit but did not push the matter, for which I was thankful. This is going to be a long night.

"Alright, good night master Splinter" they all chorused.

"Good night my sons, sleep well" I blew out the candle that illuminated their chamber.

"Good night Pinky" Michelangelo waved and went to sleep along with his brothers.

I was proud of my youngest, well he wasn't my youngest any more now. I brushed the cheek of the snoring little baby girl in my arms. Poor thing, your life will not be easy and you may never be able to live a normal life among the humans. But never forget little one, it is not because you once lost a family you cannot gain a new one. Love is a form of energy and cannot be destroyed, when lost it will be reborn into a new form, just not always the one you expect.

Like myself you have lost family and like myself you have found a new one. I will take you in much like master Yoshi and Mistress Theng Sjen did me a long time ago, their love did not go to waste. My master Yoshi named me Splinter to remind him of the splinters of hate in his heart that drove him to kill Yukio Mashimi. So now I name you Theng Sjen in honor of my late mistress to remind myself of the love I once knew and know now in my all my children.

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><p>I am very curious to what you guys think of it so far, I realize not much has happened. Thank you for reading !<p> 


	2. Little fingers

**The little turtle:**

_One often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it (Master Ugway)_

2) Little fingers.

One year has passed since that day and you have not made it easy on me little Theng Sjen. The first weeks you could not stop crying when you were left alone. I understood that the last time you were left by someone, that person did not return. But now a days there is hardly a time when you are by yourself. Donatello and Michelangelo have taken it upon themselves to entertain her and see to it that she smiles as often as possible, they were the youngest and most emotional of the brothers and they were quite shocked when I explained that Theng Sjen was abandoned by her parents.

So they made sure she knew that she would never be alone again, Leonardo when he was not training he also joined in with his two younger sibling but he took the term protecting a little more different than the others. I of course explained to them the dangers that lurked up there, in the surface world and Leonardo has tried very hard to learn all he could so in time he could put his skills to good use. I see that he will one day grow to be a great leader.

Then there is Raphael, in a way he is even more emotional than his siblings but he hides that part of himself, or tries to. He is the only one that has not yet been wrapped around Theng sjen's little fingers. He is not mean nor shows any anger towards her, he acts more indifferently, like he pretends she is not there.

I am proud of all of my children each in a different way, Raphael is not as open as the others are and does not show affection, but when it comes down to it he has a fierce protective streak towards anything that threatens his family. I'm sure that the fact that Theng Sjen is a human has something to do with his behavior towards her. He reflects his anger towards the humans upon her, he also is the one who has to most issues with the fact that we are outsiders and are doomed for a life in the shadows. At five years old he carries a lot of burdens on his shoulders. But he has honor and courage and I am proud of him.

Theng Sjen was sitting in her box as she munched quietly on a cookie. It was time for training, my sons were already lined up in the dojo. Courtesy to Leonardo.

I had started their training with a few simple kata's, I was surprised by how fast they all picked it up. I was in the middle of teaching them to perform a areal kick. When out of nowhere my youngest decided to join our training and crawled her way to her brothers. She placed herself right before Raphael and thanks to his quick reflexes he narrowly avoided kicking his sister, causing him to fall on the mats.

Theng Sjen not realizing how close she came to injury, innocently lifted her arms towards Leonardo signaling that she demanded to be picked up.

"Stupid little … , watch were you are going!" Raphael growled, I walked over to help him up.

"Are you alright, Raphael?" I asked him. I knew than if you landed in a wrong way you could seriously injure yourself.

"I'm fine sensei" he said and glared a bit at Theng sjen.

"Those were excellent reflexes my son, as you all will learn, always be prepared for the unexpected. Dismissed." Michelangelo was clearly happy that training was over for now and took his sisters hand while Leonardo held the other one.

"Come here you little trouble maker, let's go have some fun!" Michelangelo said to her as he and Leonardo walked with her out of the dojo. They walked slowly as she tried to place her feet on the ground at the right time. She was getting better, my guess is that she'll be walking alone pretty soon.

Raph's POV:

That stupid little … I'm angry at that weak human! Who does she think she is? I could have seriously hurt myself! I watch Mikey and Leo walk the pink nuisance into the living area. Can't even walk by herself, come on! I heard her squeal in happiness as she jumped up and down with the help of my brothers.

I knew it wasn't fair to be mad towards her, it wasn't her fault she was here. And to be honest I did feel a bit of pity for her, she was like us, for some reason the humans did not want her. But I still do not think she belongs here, the sewer is no place for a human baby girl. Why couldn't master Splinter just put her in a basket and place her on someone's doorstep, like he said not all humans are bad.

I watched my brothers act like a fool to convince the nuisance to walk towards them, instead she was ignoring their antics and looking in my direction. I just glared back, what do ya what huh? Got a problem with me? She didn't flinch away from my glance, probably didn't understand what it meant. No she looked around for a bit, murmured something in baby language and tried to get on her feet using the chair next to her as leverage.

"Dude, she's going to walk!" Mikey yelled and jumped up and down like an idiot.

"Come here little ninja, come to Leo" Leo said and patted his knees like she was some kinda doggy. Mikey who stood some distance away from Leo did the same. The two of them tried to lure her in, problem she was still looking at me. I had to admit that she looked a little cute, in lack of proper baby clothes we adjusted a t-shirt for her, she was still swimming in it though. She had a bit of pitch black hair on her head and I could swear that she frowned back at me with those big blue eyes of her.

Than it happened she took her first step in my direction, I was stunned! She was walking towards me? I refused to act like an idiot for her like my two brothers were doing. She didn't get far, she fell on her butt with the second step, she didn't give up though. Instead she did the next best thing, she got on her knees and crawled towards me. Gotta admit she's pretty fast, I smirked at the betrayed faces of my brothers.

She took my hand and lifted herself up, she tugged a couple of times at my hand and murmured something in baby language again. As if saying that she demanded my attention now too. I smirked at her antics.

"Well yeah, what'cha gonna do about it?" I said to her, she immediately stop mumbling and looked up to me. She squealed in happiness and jumped up and down, she lost her footing again and fell. Or she would have if I had not steadied her.

"What about you learn to stand on yer feet first before you start jumping around ?" she laughed again when I spoke to her.

"Aww Raphie has gone soft" Mikey laughed.

"Yer just angry, she likes me more than you" I said.

"Yeah right, you like us more don't you Pinky? Yes you do, you do! Come here, I'll protect you from the evil Raphie" Mikey continued, Leo just turned his eyes and went to see what Donnie was doing.

Thanny chose to ignore Mikey as she continued to play with my hand.

"Pinky, Pinky, Thanny come on girl look at me, it's me Mikey your favorite bro, come on you don't want to be with that stinky Raph! Lookie I got yer favorite toy!" He tried to bribe her with her favorite and only stuffed animal. She turned her attention to Mikey than and I thought she was going to take him up on his offer.

But she just murmured something in baby language to him, she seemed angry I think, she was even flailing her hands.

"Yeah, you tell him girl!" I joked. She walked away and tugged me along, I couldn't stop help the smirk that appeared on my face when I saw the pout on Mikey's face.

"Guess I'm the favorite brother now huh?" I said.

"You keep on laughing, just you wait until she wants to play dress up." Mikey laughed and went off to watch television or something. I took her other hand so she would have more support while she walked.

You're not going to grow into a girly girl are you? No way you're going to turn into a cool one, no make-up, no high heels and definitely no skirts, yeah combat boots and army pants all the way! I'll turn you into a though one kid, just you wait.

I thought and like that without any of them noticing Thanny had all four brothers wrapped around her fingers.

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><p>Thank you all who reviewed, Jess Marlin mentioned that her name is actually spelled Tang Shen. I realized that too not a while ago, but I've gotten used to writing it like that. I'm sorry to those of you who find this annoying, but I'm going to keep writing it like this.<p>

Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!

Until the next time


	3. Brothers

**The little turtle:**

_Speech is silver, silence is gold._**  
><strong>

3) Brothers.

It was not long after that when she started to walk on her own, we had to seriously child proof the lair when she did so. One time she found her way into the weapon area and was about to stuff some shuriken into her mouth. Good thing Leonardo had found her in time.

Theng Sjen proved to be more of a handful than her brothers, one time she even wound up in the sewers. It took us a while and a whole lot of worrying to find her. She wasn't in any immediate danger when we found her, she was just crying the lungs out of her body when we did. She probably was lonely, thank god she did otherwise we probably wouldn't have found her.

I watched as my sons were gathered around her as she tried her best to sayher first words.

Mikey's POV:

"Come on little ninja, say Leo come one you can say it Leo"

"No way bro, come on Donny, say Donny"

"Oh come on bro's, this is a lost battle, everyone knows she'll say Mikey next, come on Mikey, say it Mikey." I tried, no way she was

"Please, everyone knows she'll say Raph first, come on say Raph"

"Cowabunga, can you say Cowabunga come on I know you can do it, yes you can yes you can" that earned me a bump on the head from Don and Raph, which made her laugh.

"You find that funny huh?" her continuing squeals were answer enough. She blinked innocently up at us. But soon she lost her interest and 'walked' away to play with her stuffed bear.

"I still say she's gonna say my name first!" I exclaimed.

"We will see my son, but I think Theng Sjen has had enough excitement for one day." He picked her up and placed her in the little box master Splinter and Donny build. For some reason it didn't seem to keep her inside but at least it slowed her down a bit.

Donny's POV:

"Master at what age did we start to talk?" I asked.

"It is different for every child Donatello, but about six months after I found you." six months? She takes much longer than that, I wonder if it's normal for human baby's to take this long.

"What were our first words master Splinter? Do you remember?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah who started talking first?" Raph asked, I sighed, why does he have to turn everything into a contest?

"Well I believe it was Leonardo who spoke first, then it was Michelangelo, Donatello was next and I believe you were last Raphael." Splinter explained, Mikey found his disappointment entertaining and pestered him about it.

"What did we say master?" Leo wondered.

"Well, you said my name, Michelangelo's first word was _food_." That made Raph laugh again.

"Yeah and he hasn't shut up ever since." Raph said while poking Mikey in the side.

"What was my first word master?" I asked.

"Yours was _play_ if I remember correctly and Raph's was dad."

"If Thanny's a year old already, shouldn't she have started talking yet?" I asked, surely if turtles could talk at 6 months a human would pick it up sooner.

"It's different for everyone my son, Theng Sjen shall talk when she's ready."

"Yes father"

"Now boys back to your training, your sister is sleeping." I watched her, I wonder how long she'll stay still this time. She looks kinda cute though, she was sucking her thumb and had a firm grasp on her bear with her other hand.

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><p>It was one of our first weapon training, all wooden ones of course. Still we had to be careful. We were all pretty focused and did not hear the first couple of whines coming from our sister. We had to lock the door, especially now, she had a habit of walking in on our training unexpected and none of us wanted to wack her upon the head with our training weapons.<p>

She knew we were in here, we missed the first couple of calls but master Splinter suddenly stopped and shushed us.

"Quiet and listen"

We did, at first we heard nothing, but after a couple of minutes we heard a clear little voice sounding from the other side of the door.

"Bwo … Bohsshh, bohsssh, bwohsh, bwohsh." I stood closed to the door and I heard her talk louder now that she knew she had our attention.

"I believe someone is searching for you my sons." Our master smiled and motioned for me to open the door, she almost fell for she was holding said door for balance but she smiled when she saw me and giggled until she reached me.

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" she giggled some more as she tried to pull me into the livingroom. "I'm sorry Thanny I can't play now we are training you see"

"bwohshh" she looked up at me with pleading puppy eyes.

"Yeah your bro's are all here, but you'll have to wait a little, alright?"

Master Splinter sighed and took her. He walked with her to his spot and placed her on his lap.

"Theng Sjen you can watch but you will have to be very quiet alright" he explained an put a finger to his lips. She copied that move, I think she understood … well for a while at least.

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><p>here's chapter 3, I hope you all liked it and thank you every one who reviewed ! you guys rock!<p> 


	4. The rules

**The little turtle:**

_Loneliness is a fatal disease ; Loneliness is a sickness that leads to death (Holo, Spice and Wolf)_

4) The rules.

"Father, what is wrong?" Theng Sjen asked. She had seen master Splinter pacing around.

"Nothing is wrong my daughter, will you promise me something." Master Splinter got down to her level and looked her straight in the eye. She nodded eagerly.

"You have to remain here, just watch tv and do not go outside." confusion and fear spread through her and the toddler clutched her stuffed bear closer.

"You leaving?" she asked with a tremble in her voice.

"I promise I will come back, I just have to go search for your brothers." master splinter assured her, she thought about that for a while.

"Trouble?"

"They will be." He sighed heavily "Now you remember your rules don't you?"

"Yes, no touching weapons, no running and no going outside alone." she recited perfectly, master Splinter smiled at her anticts. If only his other children had memorized the rules as good as she had.

"Very good, now go off and watch tv" she nodded and crawled onto the couch and watched the cartoons that were already on.

Master Splinter smiled at his innocent daughter. I told them many times not to go topside, I warned them of the dangers that it held and of the punishment that would await them should they do so. But perhaps the only thing I did was spike their curiosity. Well at least I hope it is just a case of boys testing their boundaries.

They have been going a couple of times, not all at the same time, not until now. But I smelled that they had ventured out of their perimeter.

I tracked them towards were I last sensed them and carefully slipped into the shadows when I reached the world above. They were not in danger, just arguing about something and watching some children on the street.

When I appeared in front of them they were quite shocked that I had discovered their little secret, apparently they had been going up here to help some child with bully problems. I was actually proud of them, they were just doing what they thought was right, they were only doing it the wrong way.

I pressed their training harder from then on and kept a closer eye on them. When we returned home that night Theng Sjen had obviously been lonely, yet honored my rules and stayed in the lair. She was hugging her bear while she kept a close eye on the door.

"Brothers, father !" she yelled happily and jumped of the coach to ran towards her siblings, ignoring rule number two.

"Hey there little turtle" Donatello ruffled her hair when she reached him first. She giggled and grabbed his hand, "come play" she demanded.

"I'm sorry Theng Sjen but you will have to wait, your brothers are going to be busy for a while" they all groaned simultaneously and willingly went into the dojo. I mentally went over all the different types of excercises that I would punish them with.

"In trouble?" Theng Sjen asked me.

"Yes they are. Come on I'll give you a cookie for behaving" she was happy with that and followed me to the kitchen to get her treat.

"You boys can start with doing your kata's"

"Yes master" they chorused.

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><p>Again thank you all wonderfull reviewers I love you guys !<p> 


	5. Sisters

**The little turtle:**

_Some people walk in the rain … others just get wet (Roger Miller)_

5) Sisters.

"What do you think?" Mikey said as he held up the little mirror.

"I dunno." I observed the two little ponytails my brother made.

"Oh come on, you are a little girl, all little girls have ponytails. I'll show you!" he vanished for a moment and came back with five comic books in each one he found a girl with tails.

"But I don't want to be a human girl! What do turtle girls do with their hair?" I asked.

"I don't think they have hair." He said while he paged through his book, I eyed the scissors. No hair huh? He caught that look though.

"Don't you even think about it Pinky!" he snatched the scissors away.

"I didn't do anything." I said and took the ribbons out of my hair, causing it to fall in my face. Maybe it would be easier to keep it in tails. He laughed a bit when I huffed some of it out of my eyes.

"I think you have very pretty hair, if I knew how I'd totally but a braid in it." he said.

"I didn't know I had two little sisters." Raph smirked when he appeared from behind the corner.

"Raphie!" I exclaimed.

"Heya kid, whatcha doing?" he smirked as I rubbed my now poofie hair out of my face.

"Mikey is playing with my hair." I said, he laughed.

"I can see that."

"I don't like it, turtle girls don't have hair." I said he crossed his arms and he and Mikey shared a look, I saw Mikey flash Raphie the sciccors behind his back and made a signal towards me. Raph glared at Mikey.

"Well that's what you get" he said to Mikey, "Don't worry little sis' master Splinter has a lot of hair too." Raphie said and went away.

"Yes father has lots and lots of hair."I said, Mikey nodded eagerly.

"Yeah maybe he knows how to braid it" he said, I giggled when I imagined master splinter with pink ribbons and pigtails.

"Come here I'll put your hair back in tails, you'll just bump against stuff if it stays like that." I wanted to argue but a lot more hair fell in my face than and I let him. He even tied a little bow at the end of each ribbon.

When he showed me the mirror I thought it looked stupid, I told him so too.

"It's not stupid." He defended.

"Is so."

"Is not."

"Is so." I stuck out my tongue he copied that.

"Is not." This went on for a while.

"You don't have a bow in your ribbon." I reasoned. He seemed to think about that for a while.

"First of all it's not a ribbon, it's a ninja mask. Second if I let you put a bow in it will you keep the tails?" he asked, I wanted to say no but the idea of him with girly ribbons was to funny. I nodded, he sighed said something along the lines of 'afraid you'd say that' and I retied his ninja mask.

It took me a few tries but I finally had it down. Now I held the mirror in front of him.

"This is so wrong." He said but didn't seem to mind it too much he even laughed, I giggled.

"Nice make over bro, when's the tea party? Maybe we should call you Michelle instead." Raph laughed, Mikey frowned at him. I didn't like it when the others made fun of Mikey, they did that a lot.

"Don't laugh!" I stood between them and stared a bit at Raphie, he always found it funny when I got mad at him, because I was so small.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" he challenged.

"Ah let him laugh Pinky, he's just jealous because we look fabulous and he doesn't." Mikey joked and took my hand, Raph just shrugged and went to see what Leo was doing.

"What's fablous mean?" I asked and looked up to him, I giggled a bit when I saw his bow again.

"It means that we look pretty." he laughed.

"We look pretty!" I twirled a bit, I liked the feeling of my tails swooshing through the air when I did so. I decided that it wasn't so bad after all.

"You sure do." Mikey said and smiled at my antics.

"You look pretty too Mikey!" I said and took his hands again. "you're fablous!" I smiled, he groaned a bit.

"Sure, but don't say that too loud alright? I gotta reputation to uphold." He huffed a bit but twirled me around a couple of times, I giggled.

"What's reputation?" I asked when he was finished making me dizzy.

"It means that the others will laugh at me when you say such things." He smiled.

"Don't worry Mikey, I'll protect you!" I said, he smiled at that again and twirled me around again.

"You're just too cute you know" he said, I shook my head.

"No not cute, I gotta have repatation too!"

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><p>I decided to upload two chapters cause they're kinda short and all. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	6. Secret training

**The little turtle:**

_The lessons one learns himself are the most important lessons of all – (FMA)_

6) Secret training.

I started training my boys at four, simple practices like teaching them how to punch and kick correctly. I decided to train my daughter too, but I had to think this over carefully. True she had less strength in her arms and legs than her older siblings and she got hurt more easily, reptile skin and protective armor came in handy during combat. But she had other qualities that her brothers didn't have, she was more agile and flexible cause she wasn't hindered by a shell and I noticed that she was slightly faster.

Truthfully her 'weaknesses' only made me train her harder on some levels than her brothers, because she could get hurt more easily I focused more on avoided attacks than delivering them. And I used her flexibility to start the lessons already in the way of balance.

This way when they all were older I could train them together and they could learn from each other.

So right now she was learning how to find her balance on short bamboo sticks, it was a game she greatly enjoyed. When she gained enough balance to walk over them comfortably, I threw little balls at her to improve her hand each coordination while keeping balance and she threw them back at me to improve her aim. It was amazing how fast she picked it up at the end of the month she could run over the sticks to catch the ball and throw it exactly back at me.

"Mikey, Mikey master Splinter said I did real good today!"

"That's awesome, you'll be training with us in no time!" I exclaimed, we high fived and she crawled onto the couch next to me.

"Yeah right" Raph huffed, Thanny oblivious to sarcasm just smiled at him and watched tv. Leo threw him a warning glance. "What?"

Leo just ignored him. Donny was tinkering with something in the corner and as usual it was covered with books and papers that I couldn't understand.

"Boys it's your turn" Thanny crawled out of my lap so I could get up. I was a bit surprised when she followed us into the dojo.

"Sensei, can I watch? please" she asked master Splinter.

"If you promise to sit quietly on the side, than yes you are allowed." She nodded happily and sat with her back to the wall and tried to fold her legs the way Leo could but failed, good thing I always get a cramp when I do that for too long.

I actually found it a little odd that she would come watch us now, normally she didn't have the patience to sit through an hour and a half of watching.

"I'll be teaching you another part of the kata you practiced earlier this week." Master Splinter explained. "but first warm up with doing the simple ones you've learned already"

I wanted to watch, sensei told me that when I got good enough I could train with my brothers. I really wanted that, I don't like it when I'm alone. But they learned different stuff than I learned because my arms were not strong enough yet. They got to do kata's a lot of them and when master Splinter will begin to teach me them too I have to learn as many as I can as soon as possible.

I tried to remember how my brothers moved so I could learn more quickly, Donnie said that because we watch tv a lot we can learn more language and talk better. So if I watch them train I can learn kata's and fight better too. I recognize their moves I watched them a couple times already when they were training in the livingroom, it's a simple one master Splinter said. The punches and kicking in the beginning didn't look hard, I tried them already when no one was looking because I'm not supposed to do that yet. But at the end they kick really high and I always fall over a lot when I try that.

The next one I only knew the beginning, the middle was difficult again but the very end they stood weirdly and I tried that already.

"Michelangelo mind your balance" Master Splinter said when Mikey wobbled a bit. I did that too a lot in the beginning when I was walking on the sticks but not now anymore. Master Splinter says I have good balance, I don't know exactly what it means but it is something that you have when you stand still and you lose it when you fall.

"Raphael put your arm a little higher, yes like that. Good, you may now start the one we practiced this week." They started doing a new one that I only saw a couple of times. I tried to concentrate really well but I already forgot the beginning when they were in the middle. The new part looked really, really difficult, they had to jump very high and kick in the air and land and directly after that kick really close to the ground while turning around.

I didn't know my brothers could jump that high, I guess that is what master Splinter means with that my legs aren't strong enough yet. I can't even jump into the couch.

After they practiced that move a couple more times they had to fight each other. Raphie had to go against Donnie and Leo against Mikey. I didn't like it very much when they fight, but master Splinter says that we had to learn how to fight because many of the people that live above us are not friendly and if a bad person attacked any of us we were allowed to fight back.

Raphie and Leo won, and the training was over after that. I still didn't know the last part of the new kata but I was lucky Leo wanted to practice that some more. So I kept watching.

"Psst Thanny, come on, training is over lets go play" Mikey asked. I placed my finger on his mouth and shook my head, you can't talk in here when you are watching, master Splinter said so. He just shrugged and went to play with Donnie.

I tried to memorize the last kata really well, but I couldn't yet. Especially that last part, Leo moved too fast to see what he is doing. I remember that I couldn't come closer so I leaned as far forward as I could without losing the balance too much. But I still couldn't see what he did, maybe my eyes aren't strong enough too.

"Good job Leonardo, keep practicing and you will be a great leader one day." Master Splinter said to Leo when they both started walking outside. I got up and followed, leader, Donnie explained to me that when we were older Leo was going to be the boss of us when we were outside. But it also made him response'able if we got hurt, so he has to get even stronger than the rest of us so he can protect us.

Raphie wasn't happy with that, he said he was strongest already and that he should be 'leader', but master Splinter said that if you are a leader you have to be strong on the inside too and have to do many other things as well besides being response'able.

"Thanny, come on pizza time!" Mikey yelled, he startled me a bit, I guess I was thinking too much. My tummy made a noise and I walked to the table.

"Yummie !"

"So why are you so interested all of a sudden in our training?" Mikey asked. I couldn't answer that, I wasn't supposed to be learning kata's but I'm not allowed to tell lies either. I just shook my head and continued to eat.

"She probably thinks it's funny the way you keep falling down" Raphie teased Mikey.

"Losing the balance is not funny! Get hurt when losing balance." I said, Raphie is sometimes very mean to us, Donnie says it's because he is angry all the time.

"What would you know about it?"

"My balance is good now, but when it's lost it hurts" I said while chewing on another piece of pizza. Master Splinter has gotten me longer sticks a couple of times and it is really hard to keep balance. The higher the sticks the more it hurts when you fall.

Raphie said something else real quietly but I didn't hear, Leo and master Splinter did and they were mad at him.

Later that night I tried to jump into the couch instead of lifting myself up like I usually did. But I couldn't get high enough. Leo saw me do it, but he just shrugged. I cannot let anyone find out that I'm trying to practice to do kata's, else I'll be in real trouble.

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><p>Very sorry for the late updates, no excuses just lazy'ness<p> 


	7. Spidergirl and Batman vs Dr Vondoom

**The little turtle:**

_Determination is getting knocked down 70 times in a row, getting back on your feet saying here comes 71 _

_(rock lee – naruto)_

7) Spidergirl and Batman vs Dr VonDoom.

Today I was practicing in doing flips and stuff. I could do a cartwheel all on my own and with the help of master Splinter I could even do a couple of flips. He said that I did really well and that these will help make my arms and legs stronger.

I practiced jumping a long time and I could finally get into the couch, but I have to be careful because Leo has been watching me doing these secret practice things. I also try to keep up with my brothers when they go out into the sewers to play, but they are still too fast. Mikey and Donnie slow down for me, they have to because master Splinter has told them that I can't be alone too much and that they have to watch over me.

I think it's fun that I'm not being left behind but I don't want to slow them down too, Mikey and Donnie don't like it too much when they have too. They want to run really fast too like Raphie and Leo.

Master Splinter has gotten me a new t-shirt this one is green, green is my new favorite color! And I now look almost like my brothers. Mikey said that little girls can't like green, my favorite color should be pink or yellow ... I don't like pink and yellow, I've never seen a pink rat or a yellow turtle before. No green is my favorite color!

"Stop here little turtle, we're here." Donnie said, he wanted to test his new toy car and because he almost drowned the last time he had to find a place without water to do so. Donnie's really smart he has helped me to learn how to read and write, but he knows lots of other things too. He says he learns it from books.

"Come on Donnie, show us this awesome shell-car you've made! Hey if I give you enough money can you build me a bat-mobile?" Mikey begged.

"I don't think we can build a bat-mobile in the sewers Mikey!" Donnie thought it was a crazy idea.

"Please, Donnie!" I tried, Mikey said that if I say please and make my eyes really big I can get all kind of things. I noticed Mikey winking at me and lifting his thumb to say that I was doing a good job.

"Tell you what, little turtle, if we're older and if we have someplace and the materials to build it and to drive it around, I'll try to make a turtle-mobile." Donnie said while ruffling my hair.

"Thank you Donnie" I said and high fived Mikey.

"Now Lady and Gentlemen, attention please for the second test drive of the shell-car." He took out his car and placed it on the floor than he took out a remote, he said that it can make the car do what you want without touching it, like with the tv. I was happy when it moved!

Then the car started chasing us. Me and Mikey had to try and avoid it.

"Run Pinky it's going to catch us!" Mikey yelled. I laughed, but the little car was fast and in front of me. So I spotted some pipes that came out of the ground straight up and stopped about three feet from the ground. They reminded me of the bamboo sticks I practice with, and jumped on the shortest one and so went to one of the larger ones.

"Can't get me!" I said. But my brothers didn't think it was funny.

"Thanny get down from there." Donnie yelled. I was startled, why where they mad? Did I do something wrong? So I jumped down from the metal stick and landed like master Splinter taught me to. That only seemed to make Donnie angrier.

"Why are you mad at me?" I asked.

"Because you are doing something dangerous." Donnie said.

"Dude, chill, she's been practicing with master Splinter with balance it's cool." Mikey explained Donnie, that seemed to calm him down some bit.

"I'm sorry Donny." I said, I didn't like it when they were angry with me, Raphie is angry at me all the time already and I don't know what I did wrong.

"No don't apologize! I'm sorry I didn't know you could do that, it's really impressive you know?" Donnie said.

"Really?" he thought it was impressive?

"Yes, you are very good at that. Good job little turtle." He said.

"Yeah, you are the most awesome little sister we have!" Mikey said.

"Dude I have an idea!" Mikey said, he took the car and gave it to Donnie "You are Batman" he came to me and picked me up and placed me on a large piece of rock that had fallen of somewhere. "You are Spiderman … spidergirl!" he exclaimed

"What about you Mikey?" I asked.

"I'll be the villain" he said and laughed dramatically like the badguys on the tv sometimes did. He was so silly.

So we played superhero for some time, until Leo came to find us. He walked in on me and Mikey or better Spidergirl and doctor VonDoom engaging in our final showdown. I was balancing on one of smaller pipes while avoiding the laser that he pointed at me.

"No ! Leo wait!" I yelled and he froze mid step.

"What is it?" he asked, he had jumped back a bit and looked around to see what was going on.

"You almost stepped into my spiderweb" I explained, "No good, if you can't get away fast enough Doctor VonDoom will get you with his deathray. That's how batman died" I said and pointed to were Donnie was overacting the role of a vaporised batman. Leo had to smile at that and helped Donnie up.

"Come on silly we have to go eat, Splinter says so" Leo said. My two brothers jumped up immediately and followed Leo, I was standing on one of the pipes and was about to jump of when I got an idea. During the final part of their kata they all jumped really high and kicked a certain way, I tried the kick in secret a couple of times already but now I could try it in the air.

The kick itself I thought had worked the landing wasn't so graceful though, I didn't hurt myself but I had to place my hand on the floor in order not to fall over. Damn I almost got it! No time to try it again, my brothers were already going home.

"So Doctor VonDoom wins yet again" Mikey said when I caught up, he was humming his own superhero tune.

"No way, Spidergirl has defeated you!" I said and made an evil laugh of my own.

"You're pretty good at that, maybe I'll make you a minion next time." He said and pretended to twist his imaginary mustache.

"Nu huh! I'm not a minion, I'm a superhero! I fight badguys, Mikey!" I said, he just laughed and pulled me on his back.

"Yeah you'd make one great superhero Pinky, come on Shellride !" he yelled. I whooted along with him.

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><p>Again I updated two chapters at once to try and make up for my lack of updates, guys if you are still with me I'm really sorry :)<p>

I love all my reviewers you guys are so awesome !


	8. The special mission

**The little turtle:**

_Speak when you are angry and you will make the greatest speech you'll ever regret (Lawrence J. Peter) _

8) The special mission.

Today was the day, after almost a year of practicing little moves in secret and watching my brothers, I could finally legally try to perform the kata's. Master Splinter had thought me the very basics, the different stances, how to kick and punch and how to keep your balance during all of that. Now I could finally learn the more advanced stuff, he even said that if I learned fast enough that I could join my brothers during their warm up exercises. As if I wasn't motivated enough already.

The first kata that I learned was kinda new to me, it was a very simple one that my brothers had already learned even before I started watching them. So it took me a little longer than I wished to master it completely. But it also gave me the opportunity to learn how to correctly move my arms, so I could apply the basics to perfect my moves during the secret training.

Leo was watching my training, for a while I thought he was onto me. Especially when I noticed him watching me after I accidentally tried to kick a can in a way that looked suspiciously similar to the move they learned two days before that. But neither master Splinter nor Leo said anything about it to me, so I was safe … for now at least, I doubted I could hide my secret trainings from two ninja masters.

During the second day of my kata training I had fully mastered the first one and master Splinter was going to teach me a kata, which according to him was more difficult, he left out the complicated moves at first. But this one I had seen many times already, I even practiced some of the moves earlier that same day. Father and Leo were both surprised that I memorized and copied the moves perfectly after only three tries. So master Splinter showed me the complicated moves that went along with it.

I had more trouble with those, I hadn't been able to secretly practice those moves enough so it took me a whole day to fully learn that kata completely. I was disappointed, I wanted to join my brothers in their training but at the rate I was going it was going to take some time. So I pushed myself even harder, practicing when I thought no one was looking. Searching ways to make my legs and arms strong enough to handle the training.

I wasn't allowed like Leo to practice alone, not until I was older. Which made my progress even slower, what I was allowed to do tough was to practice my balance exercises, if I didn't use the long sticks. So what I did was practice the simple kata's while standing on the bamboo sticks. This was pretty risky and I had to be sure that no one was around to see me do this, I was sure I'd be in a world of trouble should any one notice.

At the same time I got an idea, I had to make my legs stronger for the last kata, I still wasn't able to jump high enough to perform that last flying kick. I placed the sticks further apart from each other so that I had to jump to get to them, while keeping my balance, I started with the shortest ones first. I had to keep watching the door though, I didn't know weither I was allowed to practice this, technically I didn't break the rules but as Mikey had noticed hard hand, master Splinter doesn't care for 'lose interpretations'. But in this case I'll follow said brother's motto 'better to ask forgiveness then permission'. Don't know if I completely agree with that statement but right now I sure do.

I spend my week like this, perfecting my second kata with master Splinter, watching my brothers train and secretly practicing my moves. I almost got caught when Leo decided to come in and practice some more too, I pretended to fall over and I didn't think he noticed. So I said I was done, cleaned up my sticks and went to play with Mikey.

At the end of the week I finally reached the level that master Splinter required and he taught me the third one. Like the one before I already knew most of the simple moves and copied him almost instantly but the harder ones took me again a week to perfect. But I noticed that all of my secret training paid off, my legs weren't as weak as before and I could jump significantly higher now.

I made my challenge harder with the sticks, I knew that I could do cartwheels and backflips without help from anyone but, doing them while resting on a short piece of wood, I had never tried that before.

I practiced them like I normally did just on the floor, they went well, I was confident that I could at least perform a cartwheel. The first couple of times I fell on my butt, but around attempt number twelve it finally worked.

"Thanny dinner time." Mikey yelled. Good thing they my pants covered most of my legs because with all the falling down they will be covered with bruises.

"Coming!" I quickly placed all the equipment that I pulled out back in its place and joined my family. We were having spaghetti tonight and Mikey was very proud because he helped master Splinter make it.

"Wash your hands first Theng Sjen." Master Splinter ordered.

"Yes master."

"Hey Thanny what are you practicing there all the time anyways?" Mikey asked while I was washing the soap of off my hands.

"My cartwheels and backflips and balance." I answered, I didn't lie, I just didn't tell them that I did all of that at the same time.

"Are you still doing that beginner stuff?" Raph said, his voice sounded mean, I didn't like it. I guess Leo heard it too, because he was glaring at him.

"Yes" I just answered and sat next to Mikey who eagerly scooped food on his plate. Raph just snorted, I didn't understand why he was mad at me. Maybe because I still hadn't caught up to them, well I'm still a little disappointed because of that too. Raph usually had respect for those who were strong so it would be logical that it would unnerve him that I was still at a beginners level.

After the dinner I helped Leo do the dishes and watched some tv afterwards with Mikey. Donnie was tinkering with some stuff in the corner again, he called it an air-conditioner I didn't know what it was supposed to do. Donnie found it with Leo, it was broken but Don said he could fix it.

"Theng Sjen, will you follow me please?" master Splinter asked, uh oh I've heard that tone before, I guess now the time has come to ask for forgiveness. I hesitantly lifted myself from the couch and followed after my father. Has he figured it out yet, that I had been training secretly, I wonder how hard my punishment will be. Maybe I couldn't train with my brothers at all?

"Master Splinter, were are we going?" I asked when he lead me outside the lair.

"Theng Sjen" here it comes.

"Yes master" I'm doomed.

"Will you join me to the surface?" he asked, wow that was not what I had in mind.

"Uh, yes of course, what are we going to do?" I asked. Normally we weren't allowed to go topside, sure I've been out with him before, but my brothers always came along.

"Will you do me a favor, my daughter? You'll be helping your family out a lot if you succeed in this mission." A mission? I got to go on a mission, for my family? Wow. I thought it was strange, I've never heard my brothers going on missions before, sure scavenging was sort of a mission but even I helped with that.

"Of course master, I shall do my very best." I was happy, of course the 'mission' was to go to the store to buy some new supplies for the rest of the week. But for a six year old who never before has spoken to another human, it was a very dangerous and exciting mission, which required a lot of bravery.

I was scared at first, I was not used to people who were so large and who looked the way they did. There was noise everywhere. But master Splinter reassured me that this was a very safe neighborhood and that if anything should happen he'll come to save me. That of course was enough to boost my bravery. I entered the shop, the woman behind the counter looked at me a little strange but shrugged it off.

I had to go buy milk and eggs, master Splinter had said. So I picked up the items he wanted and placed them on the counter as instructed. And when she asked for money I gave her the green bills we found sometimes. Instead she gave me back some coins and the milk and eggs I wanted in a plastic bag. I grabbed my stuff and bolted out of the store.

That was it, I had done it and I was so proud of myself. I was a little scared to answer the woman, but I had helped my family so it was worth it.

"Look father is this alright? Did I get the right ones?" I asked while I gave him the bag of groceries. I was a little out of breath cause I had sprinted the right into the alley as fast as my legs could carry me.

"You did very well daughter I am proud of you, now we can make pancakes tomorrow" he explained, I gave him the coins the woman had given me, he explained that it was also money but of a different kind.

I was so happy I bounced home. And when I entered I jumped on top of Mikey.

"Hey you, where were you?" he asked while he tickled me.

"I got to go out on a mission!" I exclaimed, that got everyone's attention.

"Mission?" Donnie asked.

"Hu huh, I got food in a real human store all by myself!" I said proudly, Leo, Don and Mikey smiled.

"That's great Pinky, you weren't scared?" Mikey asked.

"A little, I had to talk to a woman behind a desk, but she was friendly and even gave me some money back …" and so I explained the whole thing and they listened to my every word. I was so happy, I got to help them, I did something good.

"So what?" Raph said and immediately busted my bubble.

"I.. I got food" I said.

"Well we got food just fine, before didn't we? And we didn't have to pay for that." He said. "Just because you can go outside without being yelled at does not make this special, people go grocery shopping every day. It's not a mission, it's not a big deal." He said and went off, but he was stopped by Leo and Donnie.

"Get out of my way Leo I'm going to bed" he said.

"No you're going to apologize first" Donnie countered and crossed his arms. Leo just nodded in my direction.

"Hey, it's okay, I think what you did was very brave Pinky" Mikey said as he hugged me. I couldn't help it, I was crying, I'm not a child stop crying.

"hey, err , sorry, don't cry." Raph said.

"I'm nn…nnot … ccryingg" I tried to say but the sobs were making it hard to do so.

"Come on little ninja, don't be sad. Raph didn't mean it" Leo said as he wiped some tears from my face, yes he did he is always mad at me.

"No he didn't did you Raph" Mikey said while he stared Raph down.

"I said I'm sorry already, what else does she want me to do? Crawl on my knees?" Raph yelled, their fighting only made me feel worse.

"It would be a start" Donnie said.

"Please don't fight, look not crying anymore" I said. They all gave me pity glances, I don't like pity glances.

"What is going on here?" Master Splinter came into the room, her heard all of the ruckus and came to see what was going on.

"Nothing master Splinter everything is alright, sorry for the noise … I'll go practice some more" I said while I ran into the dojo. I didn't like it when they saw me cry, a ninja does not cry even a little one like me.

Mikey, Leo and Donnie probably told him what Raph did and then Raph would be in trouble and he'll be even more angry at me. I didn't want that, I like Raphie he just doesn't seem to like me so much anymore.

Master Splinter entered the room and I quickly stood up and bowed, in here he was sensei and you have to show sensei very much respect.

"No need for that my daughter we are not training now" he said gently, I nodded. He came over and placed himself besides me.

"Tell me what happened Theng Sjen." He said. Weird didn't the others tell him already, that would be good, now Raphie wouldn't be in trouble.

"We were fighting master Splinter, I said something that made Raph angry and the others stood up for me." I explained as calmly as I could, though it was hard to keep the tremble out of my voice.

"Raphael was not pleased with your mission?" he asked.

"No, I … he … it does not matter." I said, I was sad and maybe a little angry at him that he didn't like my contribution, but if he said it wasn't necessary than I didn't want to be happy about my 'mission'.

"Yes it does" he waited until I chose to speak.

"He said it was not necessary, that we got food before and so grocery shopping is not something to be proud of. But he didn't mean to say it so rude, it wasn't his fault he was just …" master Splinter sighed and motioned for me to sit down in front of him.

"If your father tells you he is proud of you and that you have done something of importance do not take that lightly Theng Sjen because I do not say such things to someone who does not deserve it. It is true that we managed to get food before and it is true that this way we spend money it is also true that any human can walk into a store and buy food."

"But you forget something my daughter, you are part of our family and therefore not a normal human, you are special and for someone your age to put your fears aside to provide and try to help your family that is something you should be proud of. As for why I asked it of you, before we stole food, it was necessary to survive, but it is without honor to take things that are not yours and so my daughter it is important to me that you do so." He explained, I understood better now and I felt better now too.

"Is Raph going to be punished?" I asked carefully.

"Yes he is." Master Splinter said, "You do not like the thought of Raphael being punished?" he asked.

"I just don't want him to get into trouble because of me." I said, he'll be even more mad at me.

"Raph is in trouble because he was rude and mean towards you, that does not make you responsible for his actions.

"Yes master" and that was the final word that would be set about it.

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><p>This is a concept I also used in my first story of Theng Sjen.<p>

I also wanted to say that I got a comment from a reader when I updated my last chapter who said how I could improve my writing style, I just wanted to say to who ever is still reading this that I do not have a problem at all if you want to give me tips or criticism as long as you say it in a respectful and friendly way of course.

That was all, also the rest for my reviewers as always I am eternally grateful to you guys!


	9. Training pays off

**The little turtle:**

_Being happy is feeling like you are exactly where you should be. (Ann)_

9) Training pays off.

Training went well, I had to master a series of kata's before I could join my brothers with their warm ups. Today I was practicing the last one, it had a couple of really though jumps in it but I refused to give up, no matter how many times I landed on my but I just dust crawled back to my feet and tried again. After a while though I started to notice that I had improved considerably. I had practiced the jump kick and the spin separately so many times I was now just struggling to put them together. It seemed so easy when Leo did it … everything seems easy when he does it. But when I finally managed to get the move down I was proud of myself.

And as promised after that last move was perfected I got to warm up with my brothers, true it wasn't real training yet, but it meant a great deal to me. I was smiling ear to ear.

"My sons, I am pleased to inform you that from today on, Theng Sjen will be warming up with you."

"What? No way? Already! You are awesome Pinky come here." Mikey ran up to me and twirled me around.

"Congratulations little turtle." Donnie said to me and ruffled my hair like he usually did.

"Thanks guys" I noticed master Splinter nod towards Leo. What was all that about? I couldn't see were exactly he was going cause Mikey started to spin me around again. I smiled at his antics.

"You're gonna make me sick you know?" I laughed, he yelled that he didn't care and just continued to twirl. When he put me down again my vision moved around for a while, I didn't know if I was rocking back and forth or if it was just because of my dizziness. My vision cleared when in blinked a couple of times, I felt someone coming up behind me.

"Keep still little ninja" Leo said, I did as he asked and didn't turn around. Then I felt him place something over my eyes, was he blindfolding me? No wait this has holes in it! Oh !

I squealed and danced around and hugged him, I earned my ninja mask. I turned into the first nearby mirror it was green my favorite color!

"I really am starting to look like a little turtle now huh Donnie" he smiled at me.

"You sure do." he said.

"Thank you master Splinter! I won't let you down, I promise! I'll be a great ninja one day just like my brothers and I'll make you proud!" I exclaimed and hugged him. He chuckled and patted my back.

"I am always proud of my children, now go off and play. Tomorrow your real training can begin." I bowed and went off to play with Mikey and Donnie.

…

The next day we were all in the dojo and the first time I got to train with my brothers was amazing, I was so happy! I belonged here, I really did. Sure it was just stretching and practicing simple kicks and punches and stuff, but still I couldn't be happier. Then afterwards I watched their actual training like I did before and learned by watching their moves.

After learning the new kata's master Splinter put them together and told them to fight using the moves they had learned. This wasn't the first time they practiced like this but every time they do, they are getting more aggressive and confident in their moves. That seemed like the hardest training of all, you not only have to have confidence in your own moves but also in your partner, or better yet trust that they person you are fighting knows how to block or counter your attack.

So far neither of them has been seriously hurt, sure they all had gotten a couple of hits but nothing serious. But seeing how Raph's fighting lately that's going to change, good thing master Splinter pairs him up with Leo. Not that I don't have confidence in my other brothers abilities but, Donnie and Mikey simple have a different way of fighting than our two eldest brothers.

"Alright that was it for today" master Splinter called after Leo preformed a final move that left Raph completely defenseless, weird where had he learned that one. Maybe master Splinter taught him separately I hadn't seen them practice that in any of their training sessions. Oh well, I got to my feet, now it was my turn to train, I flexed my muscles in anticipation.

"Leonardo, stay here for a moment." Master Splinter said suddenly, he meant Leo and me, I wonder what it is about.

"Oh Leo's in trouble!" I heard Mikey sing.

"Give it a rest Mike" Donnie was pulling him along.

"Kneel my children I wish to speak to you both." Is Leo staying for my training or something? That can't be right? He's the best out of all my brothers and I'm just beginning.

"Theng Sjen, while I admire your will to learn more from my training, it would be dangerous for you to try to do certain things on your own." Oh, he did know about my secret trainings, of course he does master Splinter knows everything. I felt a twinge of fear pass through my body, I noticed Leo tensing up too, wait what had he to do with all this? "I shall not forbid you to train but, I want you to have someone there with you while you do so." Oh so Leo's going to be my supervisor or something? I can live with that. He still wasn't relaxing though.

"Yes master, I'm sorry master." He didn't seem angry with me, which was a big relief.

"Know that I find it quite remarkable that you were able to memorize all those techniques simply by watching your brothers train. But it simply isn't safe to practice some moves on your own."

"Yes master, thank you" I said.

"Leonardo has proven himself guilty of this as well, the same goes for you Leonardo, you may only practice the moves you have mastered already alone. The rest will only be done under my supervision." Leo? Leo was secretly training as well? Oh he must have watched master Splinter train on his own.

"Yes master, I'm sorry master" Leo said, though he seemed to relax as well when he noticed that master Splinter wasn't truly mad at us.

"That is all Leonardo" Leo bowed and left the dojo. So he was secretly training as well too? Wow I never noticed that before, damn he really is a ninja prodigy.

"Now my daughter, today I will start to teach you how to avoid attacks. I want you to practice as much as you can for it is not something I can truly teach you, it comes with experience and it will be one of your greatest assets." I nodded, I was so excited combat training.

"I understand master" I bowed and placed myself in battle stance. For the next hour and a half master Splinter threw slow punches and kicks at me first the attacks came slowly but he quickly picked up the pace. At the end of the training I was exhausted and sore all over, that walking stick of his is truly a weapon of mass destruction.

"Enough training for one day, go get some rest" I nodded and dragged myself to the couch. I rested my head on Mikey's lap and watched tv with him.

"Tough training?" he asked as he patted my head.

"No, maybe … yes ." I admitted. He chuckled.

"You'll get used to it. You're a tough little turtle." He praised, yes I am. I fell asleep soon afterwards, it's never really safe to fall asleep around Mikey. Last time he drew a mustache on Don's face, it showed for two days, it got him grounded for two weeks. It was funny though, Mikey joked about how evil geniuses needed facial hair. He did it to me too, I woke up one morning and found out he put all my hair in little braids. It took me hours to get them all out and even then my hair was curly for the rest of the day. I yawned loudly when I felt myself fall asleep.

"Sshh don't wake her" I heard someone whisper, I think it was Donnie.

"Come on I want to go to sleep" Mikey complained.

"Then slide from under her"

"I tried she has a death grip on my leg." He said again, I was too sleepy to pay attention to what they were saying so I just remained were I was.

"Oh for the love of …" I heard someone else say, could that be Raphie? I felt myself move a bit but again I was too tired to care. I just snuggled into the new source of warmth and fell asleep again there. The next morning I woke in my bed as usual and didn't think anything of it.

* * *

><p>So many updates, I know right, good job me. It's not going to last sorry ... not that I don't have enough chapters or something, no don't worry this story isn't going to be done anytime soon. But I must warn you all my lovely readers that the exams are nearing and I won't be able to update for awhile when that time comes. But for now hurray !<p>

Again I want to thank those wonderful people how reviewed, you are awesome! You guys make my day.


	10. Winter sucks

**The little turtle:**

_Snow means it's too cold to rain (Bella - Twilight)  
><em>

10) Winter sucks.

It was winter which meant it was practically freezing in our home, my brothers weren't too happy with that. Donnie said it had something to do with their blood being cold. It didn't make any sense to me, usually they felt pretty warm, but Donnie's usually right about these things. So I spend the day making them hot tea and filling warm water bottles.

"Are you still cold?" I asked them. They were all huddled together underneath a large comforter.

"A little, thanks sis." Donnie and Mikey said as they huddled over the newly heated water bottle, they seemed pretty comfy. Raph and Leo on the other hand, they wanted to be warm but rather not touch each other too much. They were momentarily having a short ceasefire-moment, but still being forced so close to each other meant that world war fifteen was just around the corner. I watched them probing each other with their elbows, yeah hell would break lose any moment now.

"Theng Sjen come with me and put on some warm clothes" Master Splinter said and handed me a sweater, "We are going outside for a little while boys we will return soon." He called to my brothers.

"Alright sensei" they all chorused. I quickly threw on my warm boots a scarf and two too large t-shirts.

"Later guys" I waved.

"Where are we going father?" I asked when I caught up with him.

"We are going to try and find your brothers some more blankets and warm clothes for winter." He said and adjusted my scarf a bit so it would cover more of my face. I must look like a mummy now.

"Can't we buy them some clothes, I've seen stores that sell lots of them" I asked, the clothes there looked really warm too, they also didn't smell so bad.

"Yes I know but those clothes are very expensive and we should save what little money we find to buy some fresh food from time to time." He explained, usually we got our food from warehouses. For some reason they threw away food from time to time, Leo said that they thought it had passed their expiration date but if we got to it quickly it would be still be good enough to eat. That didn't went for all foods though, out of experience I learned to stay away from eggs and milk, if they got thrown out it was for good reason.

It got me thinking, sometimes we found money on the street mostly coins but sometimes green papers too. With that I got to go and buy fresh stuff, but where do humans get money it had to come from somewhere?

"How do we get more money then?" I asked him after I thought it all over some more

"The only way we can get money in this moment is if we can find some."

"Alright, but how do humans get money? Do they all find it?" I asked. He smiled at me.

"Most of them work hard for it." he said, they work for it?

"What kinda work?" I asked.

"All kinds of things, remember that woman behind the counter when you go shopping?" I nodded eagerly, "she is working, the person who owns the shop pays her money to watch over it. There are countless occupations, some get paid better than others." He explained.

"Are there many human ninja's who get paid?" I asked, this caused him to stop in his tracks. He had a weird look in his eye as if he was remembering something he'd rather not.

"A ninja who has to be paid for their services is the worst kind of ninja." He said plainly, his voice got dark and scary and I feared I might have said something terribly wrong. But when he looked at me he softened his gaze and I knew this anger was not directed at me, he shook his head a bit as if trying to get the bad thoughts out and smiled when he took my hand.

"Why are you asking these questions my daughter?" he asked as he pulled me along. I wrapped both my hands around his large furry one.

"I just wanted to help get more money, I don't know anything other than ninja. But maybe I could do something else as well? Then we'd get more money and Leo, Raphie, Donnie and Mikey could get warm, new blankets." I said quickly, master Splinter smiled at me.

"You have a good heart my daughter, but you are too young to work. Do not worry we have gotten on without money, as long as we have each other we will manage." He whispered.

"So where can we find clothes?" I changed the subject, if I couldn't buy my brothers new blankets I would find them the best, warmest clothes out there.

"We'll check the junkyard and trashcans first."

"Alright, that's were Donnie always finds his cool stuff, I know! Donnie found a machine that makes cold air, can't we find one that makes warm air?"

"A radiator, perhaps that is a good idea my daughter" he praised.

When we got to the dump everything was covered in white, snow! I didn't get to see snow a lot. I pulled my ninja mask tightly over my head, to protect my face from the harsh wind.

"Let's go search, but be very careful don't touch anything that looks sharp! And mind your footing, the ice has made everything very slippery." I nodded, I knew this too from experience. Last year winter was really, really cold and in some places in the sewer the water had gotten frozen. Mikey had tried iceskating but all he managed to do was bruise himself up completely. Apparently ice skates are different from regular ones, Mikey learned that the hard way.

"Alright" we searched for hours, but I didn't know what a radiator looks like and father didn't find one either. We did find a couple of blankets and sweaters and even an old mattress, but it was too soaked to take with us. My hands were red from the digging through the snow. I gotten a couple of scratches from pieces of wood and metal I didn't notice in time while digging.

"Let's go back and search the alleyways next" master Splinter suggested. I trailed behind him.

We didn't find much useful stuff in the alleys either and we had to hide because those evil people with the purple tattoos were in the neighborhood. They didn't see us, thanks to master Splinter, who pulled me into hiding when he sensed them. I was too focused on the task at hand.

"You have to be more aware of your surroundings daughter." He scolded.

"I know master, I am sorry, I was too busy searching."

"Just remember what you have to do when you run into trouble without me." he drilled this into every single one of us.

"Hide, if I can't hide try and run away, and only if I can't run away defend myself until I can." I repeated instantly.

"Good, now come along, I think your brothers are due for another cup of tea and so do we I should say." He commented, master Splinter didn't get cold easily it was because of his fur he said. It worked better than any coat ever could. I on the other hand was shivering from top to bottom, why can't humans get a thick layer of fur too?

I smiled up at him. When we got below the temperature had dropped a lot and my teeth started to clatter. Master Splinter noticed and told me to get some of the wet clothes off and wrapped a dry blanket around me.

"Let's hope you do not get a cold. I might have taken you out in the cold for too long."

"No it's okay, father, we got lots of new blankets for the others, it's fine." It was not his fault, I tried to keep my nose from dripping and to keep my shivering to a minimum.

"Alright, but if you are cold tonight, you will tell me." He ordered.

"I promise" I said and hopped next to him.

"Come on now, it will be warmer in our lair" he said when I didn't stop shivering.

I trailed along with him and crawled under the pile of blankets with my brothers when we got back, Raphie even gave me his warm water bottle.

"Thanks Raphie." I said and leaned against Leo.

"Yeah, thank you Raphie" Mikey teased.

"No fighting" I said, I didn't know if they'd listened to me or not, I suddenly felt incredibly tired and promptly fell asleep besides them.

…

I woke up in the morning still leaning against Leo and with Mikey snuggling on my lap. Master Splinter must of thought that we would be warmer this way.

Well I was too warm now, my back felt like it got stuck in the same position for too long and my head was hurting. I could tell it was morning because master Splinter's light was on in his room.

I tried to get from underneath Mikey but I couldn't get my legs free. Ow my head, what was wrong? Did I bump it against something? I did get master Splinters walking stick against my head during training yesterday but it wasn't that hard. Or maybe it was, why am I so hot all of a sudden, my brothers are still shivering. I pushed some of the blankets away from me to have more air.

But that move woke Leo up. He blinked a couple of times and yawned.

"Good morning Thanny." He said and stretched his arms above his head.

"go.." I started but it turned into a cough that just wouldn't stop great now my throat hurts as well. What is going on?

"Thanny what is wrong?" he patted my back when I wouldn't stop coughing.

"Hey who … what's wrong?" Mikey said when he too woke up with all the noise I was making.

"I don't know, she just started coughing." It finally stopped and I had to breathe deeply a couple of times to get air back into my lungs and to calm myself down. Everything is fine, everything is fine I said to myself. Tears came into my eyes when because of all the coughing my head started hurting pounding.

"Thanny talk to me, what's wrong" Mikey asked and took some hair out of my face. He quickly drew his hand back. "Dude she's hot, her head it's burning!" he said, I started crying. I didn't understand what was going on. What was burning? What was wrong with my head?

Donnie and Raph woke next and they too started to panic, until Leo decided enough was enough.

"Alright, Raph take her and place her on the couch, Mikey get some cold water for her head, Donnie search your books for answers, I'll go get master Splinter" Leo said, and everyone got up and did as ordered without complaint.

Raphie picked me up carefully and placed me on the couch, I started crying again.

"Hey don't cry, everything is going to be alright ok? Everything will be alright, master Splinter is coming he'll know what to do" he patted my back a bit, which seemed to calm me down.

"Rrraphie" my throat was sore and it was hard to talk.

"Shh, it's alright, don't talk if it hurts too much." he looked around to search for Mikey. "Mike where is that water?" He yelled. Which made my head hurt again, I hissed and grabbed at it.

"Sorry" Raphie said and placed his hand on my head, which was much cooler.

"Here I am" Mikey said and placed a bucket of cold water and a clean rag besides Raphie, he wrung most of the water out of the rag and placed in on my head. "There you go is that better?" I nodded, the cool water did feel good against my head.

I was scared, I had never been sick before, everything hurt. I looked up at my brothers pleading that they could somehow make this better, I expected Mikey to comfort me like he often did when I got a cut or a nasty bruise. But to my surprise it was Raph who lend me some of his always present strength, he reassuringly patted my back while saying soothing, comforting words with a kindness that I was not used from him.

Then master Splinter entered and they both stepped back.

"What is the matter my daughter? Where does it hurt?" he asked carefully, I tried to speak but I knew that wasn't going to work so I placed a hand on my throat and one on my head. He seemed to understand. I broke into another coughing fit after that.

"A sore throat, headache and fever. Sounds like a bad cold." Donnie said while carrying a couple of his books. "I found some remedies too master. It says that honey is good for a sore throat and lots of water against the fever and headache." He explained.

Master Splinter nodded. A moment later, Leo came in the room with a cup of tea and some honey.

"Here you go little ninja drink up, Donnie and master Splinter say it will make you better." Leo said I tried to sit up but the more I moved the more my head hurt. So Donnie stabilized me a bit.

"Little sips daughter" I nodded and slurped a bit of the warm beverage. "There you go." When I had half of the tea. I pushed the cup gently away, I felt another coughing fit coming. This one worse than the first. Raph again patted my back reassuringly. Everything will be fine I told myself, it is just a cold, I'm just a little sick it will get better soon.

The next couple of days were hell, I was hardly awake. But when I was I found myself soaked in sweat, shivering. I couldn't eat anything and survived of tea and honey. My fever was the worst on the third day and they had put me in cold water for a while, to try and cool me down but also to clean all of the sweat of my body. Worse of all my brothers were not allowed close to me. Master Splinter said that they could get sick as well.

But they offered a lot of moral support, Donnie even found something in his book about the sickness. It said that it was contagious for the first couple of days, but after a while that would go away. Depending on his calculations that was two days ago, but master Splinter didn't want to take any chances of them getting sick as well.

So here I lay in master Splinters room, all alone, of course should I need anything master Splinter was but a cough away. My throat was better and my headache was almost over, the fever broke a couple of days ago.

I wonder how hard I'd have to train now, until I can join them again. I've taken off my ninja mask the first night that I got sick, I felt too weak to carry it. Ninja's are strong, they do not get sick, they do not cry.

I tried to move my arms, but the muscles hurt from not using them for a week. Still I tried to push myself up, it felt like my brain began twirling around in my head, but I knew it would pass soon. Tomorrow I can see my brothers again, I tried to cheer myself up, tomorrow, just one more night sleeping and they will come to see me.

I didn't want them to see me so weak, but I missed them terribly. Because of my throat I couldn't even talk to them as they passed Splinters room. No don't you dare cry again, if you are going to be a ninja again you will have to toughen up Theng Sjen.

I felt sleepy again and laid my head back down, I fell asleep promptly.

"Should we wake her up?"

"Don't you dare, she needs her rest!" that was Donnie's voice.

"Come on one little nudge, please" Mikey pleaded.

"Will you two shut up, do you want master Splinter to kick us out!" Raphie, I opened my eyes, they were all here. Don't cry, don't cry.

"Raphie" I said.

"Thanny, hey good morning little turtle how are you feeling?" Donnie asked, he was closest.

"Fine" I said, they had come, as soon as possible to see me. I smiled at them they missed me too.

" Hey, what's wrong? If your throat still hurts you shouldn't talk." Leo said.

"No I'm fine, it's nothing. I missed you." I said, oh is this what you call being stronger? Weak little human.

"Aww, Pinky we missed you too" Mikey said.

"Do you want anything? Water? More tea? Something to eat?" Donnie fussed. I smiled.

"No thank you." I tried to sit up like I did yesterday, I just wanted out of this room. I want to watch tv and play with my brothers and most of all I want to train again.

"Easy there tiger" Mikey said as he supported my back when the room did the spinning thing again.

"You think master Splinter will let me out of the room now?" I asked. Mikey released me when he was confident I wouldn't fall over.

"We asked, he said that maybe if you manage to eat something."

"I want to eat." I said too quickly. It made Raphie smirk for some reason.

"Thanny, if you push it too much you can get sick again."

"I want to eat, please Donnie"

"Alright, but if you puke I'm not cleaning it up." He said and went to get master Splinter.

"Yes you will" Mikey teased. "Good job on the soulful puppy eyes Pinky I taught you well." He held his hand up for a high five, and I almost cried again when the best I could do was place my hand against his.

"Don't worry you'll get your strength back in no time" Mikey said.

"But I won't be strong enough anymore to train with you guys."

"Well not for a while, but you'll get there, little ninja" Leo said.

"If you want I'll …" Raphie started it was the first thing he said when I woke up and he frowned at us when everyone's attention was directed at him. " … I'll help you get better again." he said and quickly looked away.

"Really? You'd do that? You'll practice with me?" I asked, I couldn't believe it I thought he didn't like me anymore.

"I said I would, didn't I? Now you want to or not?" he asked … it would be nice to be around Raphie again for a while and he was the strongest person I know, besides master Splinter.

"Yes I would like that very much, thank you Raphie."

"Aww you made him blush, maybe I should call you Pinky instead Raph!" Mikey teased this time he got the wet rang splashed into his face.

"Keep it down boys your sister is still recovering." Master Splinter entered with some dry bread and water, Donnie followed and rolled his eye when Mikey looked sheepishly at him from underneath the rag. The look on his face made me laugh.

"It's good to see you smile again, Theng Sjen, now Donatello told me that you wished to eat something?" I nodded. "You know that you don't need to push yourself, if you are not feeling well enough yet maybe you should wait some more."

"I really feel better father, I'm a little weak and I think it is because I didn't eat so much the last couple of days."

"Alright, but remember small bites" I nodded and carefully munched on the bread. I swallowed it down with a lot of water because my throat was still hurting a little, but otherwise it went alright.

"She does look better, she doesn't look so pale anymore" Donnie said.

"Yeah and look she's sitting up" Mikey joined, I smiled at them they were trying to get Splinter to release me too.

"Fine, you can go out" they all cheered, Raphie even smiled. "But ! Just to lay down on the couch, you cannot walk around yet and if you feel sick again, you have to say so immediately" Master Splinter commanded, we all nodded obediently.

"Come on princess Pinky, let me Michelangelo your knight in turtle armor rescue you from this tower!" Mikey proclaimed, he's so silly. It felt so good to smile again. I took his hand and with Donnie's help they pulled me on my feet.

It was cold when I ventured from underneath my blankies and my legs felt a little wobbly but I didn't feel nauseous, that's one thing right?

I held onto them when I took my first step, I feel like a child all over again.

"You okay? We can carry you if you want?" Leo said.

"No I'm …" I had to stop for a second, the room started spinning again. Stupid brain, stay still, I closed my eyes and it helped a little.

"Come on little ninja, master Splinter said you couldn't walk around yet." Leo said and picked me up.

"Hey that's my princess you are stealing, I saw her first!" Mikey teased. I felt better now that I was off my feet again, damn my legs were even weaker than before.

"Just come along knuckle head" Raphie said and knocked him on the head. Donnie followed us, carrying my blankets and my pillow.

"Thank you Donnie! Oh thank you Leo" I said as I tried to hug him a bit.

"Hey what about me? I helped rescue you too!" Mikey complained.

"Thank you Mikey" I giggled, I turned around best as I could in Leo's arms to look at Raphie "Thank you Raphie, thank you master Splinter."

"Yeah, yeah, you're grateful we get it already" Raphie said, but he was smiling when he did so he wasn't being mean.

They then tucked me in the couch and watched some tv, when they had to go train, I wasn't allowed to watch them like I used to. So instead I decided to sleep some more.


	11. Raphie

**The little turtle:**

_Individual we are one drop, together we are the ocean (Ryunosuke Satoro)_

11) Raphie .

Finally after two weeks of regaining my strength and reassuring Master Splinter and Donnie that I wasn't going to have a relapse. I was allowed to train again, I practically had to start all over and it took me longer with master Splinter unwilling to push me.

But help came from an unexpected angle, Raphie as promised helped me every day and unlike master Splinter and Leo, he didn't go so easy on me. We actually helped each other out, he had some trouble with his kata's and I had to practice avoiding attacks so we combined them. It worked pretty well and I was happy that I could spend some time with him too, he had been avoiding me for a long time and I had really missed this.

"Come on not tired yet are yah?" he taunted when I was knocked on my butt again.

"No way!" I flipped back on my feet like master Splinter taught me too, I was glad I finally succeeded, the first three times I tried it in this 'match' I just fell back on my butt.

"Alright, prepare yourself here I come!" he yelled and came at me again. I easily sidestepped his move, then he came at me with some kicks and punches, which I avoided too. Then he picked up the pace and that was where I always screwed up. I just couldn't keep up with the quick attacks and with one low sweep of his leg I was back on the floor.

"Damnit!" I punched the mat in frustration, during our fighting I realized just how easy master Splinter had been going on me, hell even Raph was going easy on me and I couldn't last longer than 2 minutes tops.

"Come on back on yer feet." Raph said and extended his hand to help me up. I ignored it and flipped like I did before. He just smirked and prepared to attack again.

Master Splinter had said, not to think too much, to just try and read your opponents movements. He said that I had to be water, water finds a way around, wearing its opponent down and so the water can defeat the hardest rock. Alright I'm water, I'm water.

This time I lasted longer, not that much but I understood now what master Splinter meant by reading your opponent. But still after two minutes and a half I landed on my butt again.

"I know now why it's called kicking someone's ass, my butt hurts!" I complained but flipped back up again. Raphie laughed at that and came at me again. Today was also the first time that I got punched in the face, Raphie had pulled his punch of course but still ... It was on that note that we ended our training.

"You're getting better" he said.

"Thanks, you too." I joked, he poked me in the side for that one.

Later that evening I practiced my balance techniques again and the first couple of kata's under Leo's supervision.

And after one more week of catching up on everything I was back in the dojo with the rest of my brothers, I even got to do a complete training session with them, not just the warming up. Master Splinter decided that it was time that my brothers practiced some more in the way of balance, because later he'd combine that with the way of invisibility and it was very important that we got those basics down.

So here I stood like in the old days balancing on bamboo sticks under the supervision of master Splinter. He was surprised and maybe a little angry when he saw that I had already combined this technique with my kata's as well.

Leo was good at this, he too had been taught in the way of balance already, master Splinter had already trained him so he could conquer his fear of heights. Mikey and Donnie weren't bad either they only fell a couple of times. Raph had the most trouble, I felt sorry for him. I remember when I used to fall down like that. Sure he knows how to land without hurting himself too much, but still falling down from that height over and over again isn't exactly painless either.

The next day when Raph and I were training I got an idea.

"Hey Raphie, let's even the odds a bit" I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I pulled out a lot of the smallest bamboo sticks and covered a large surface with them on the floor, so that we had enough room to fight. I jumped on them and positioned myself in the center.

"Now try to attack me" I said. He frowned a bit at me, thinking that I was making fun of him. But after a while he realized that I meant well and joined me in the circle.

This was how we practiced the next couple of days and eventually his balance got a lot better, I know this because I ended up on the floor more and more.

Master Splinter was aware of this new twist in our training routine, but he allowed it. He was happy that we were taking his teachings seriously and that we were helping each other grow.


	12. There's a raptor in my closet

**The little turtle:**

_You know why the eldest sibling is born first? It's to protect the little brothers and sisters who come along later. _

_(Ichigo Kurosaki - Bleach)_

12) There's a raptor in my closet.

Mikey said that there was an awesome movie on and he got Raphie and me to watch it with him. He told me it was about dinosaurs or something. Donnie had finally found a radiator that wasn't wrecked beyond all recognition. He told us he would be busy trying to bring it back from the dead and Leo was learning how to meditate with master Splinter.

I liked the movie until suddenly all the dinosaurs escaped and started eating people. I crawled under the blanket most of the time and leaned against Raph. There was this one scene where the kids were hiding in the kitchen and two raptors followed them, I had to duck behind Raphie. Neither Mikey nor Raph noticed I was terrified, they were too busy laughing. I wouldn't have said anything anyways, a ninja doesn't get scared of dinosaurs. Well most ninja's don't.

"Dude that one scene where that guy sat on the toilet and was all ahh and the t-rex was all huh and then he graaaw!" Mikey yelled, while was acting like a giant t-rex.

"I liked the part were that stupid fat guy got eaten, it was his fault anyways." Raph said and crossed his arms.

"Which part did you like best Thanny?" Mikey asked, the part where the movie was over, I thought.

"The part were, were … I don't know" I said, I looked around please change the subject I don't want to talk about dinosaurs anymore.

"Aww did you get scared Pinky" Mikey teased.

"No I didn't!" I jumped up so suddenly I nearly fell out of the couch.

"Yeah right" Raph huffed. "Did you even see the movie from beneath that pillow" he smirked.

"I did see it, I liked the part where the t-rex pushed the car over the edge" … NOT ! But that ought to shut them up. Seriously one time I peek from underneath my blanket and it's always the worst scene on.

"Yeah, that was awesome." Mikey exclaimed and replayed the scene a bit.

"As if you weren't scared Mikey, you know the kids couldn't hear you when you yelled shut the light off!"

"As if, I just thought they were stupid. Besides if a t-rex comes along, no way, I'll start pointing a light at him!" Mikey defended.

"Her, remember, all the animals in the park are female." I said, there I paid attention. Sure I didn't see much from the movie but I heard the whole thing.

"Yeah in the beginning, who knew animals could turn from girl to boy if there are only girls around?" Mikey said.

"Yeah, who knows you'll turn into a girl Mikey" Raph laughed.

"No way! Girls are lame!" Mikey yelled, hey! He grinned sheepishly at me as he realized his mistake "the non-ninja-type-girls I mean" yeah, yeah.

"It could happen you know?" I teased.

"Well I ain't turning into no girl" Raph said.

"Me neither." Mikey said.

"Maybe Leo" Raph said. Mikey grinned.

"Or Donnie" he said. They both laughed as they pictured it.

"You guys want to be boyfriend-girlfriend with Donnie and Leo?" I asked, I shuddered a bit at that thought.

"Eeeeww ! No way" they both agreed.

We spend the rest of the evening, running away from Mikey who was pretending to be a super intelligent velociraptor. He actually got the creepy sound down … sort of.

That night I couldn't sleep, I kept staring at the strange shadows on the walls. Wondering what dinosaurs hid in them. When what felt like hours later I still wasn't asleep, I decided that enough was enough. I gathered all my courage, I grabbed my bear for protection and ventured outside. I moved as slowly as possible, strange how in the dark everything looks that much scarier. Carefully I sneaked into the room were Raph slept.

"Who's there?" he mumbled, when my stumbling woke him up. "Mikey if that's you, I'll pound you into tomorrow!" he got up and into battle form.

"No wait" I whispered, damn this wasn't fun.

"Thanny, what are you doing here?" oh, no, go back, go back to your room.

"I … I'm sorry, nothing I'll …"

"Thanny are you scared?" he asked. I just nodded a bit and clutched my bear closer to me.

"Sorry, I'll go back" I said and was about to go back into my own room. I heard him groan in annoyance.

"If you're quiet, you can stay in here for tonight" he said, I'll be quiet! I'll be quiet. I nodded at him and he scooted over on his little mat to make room for me.

"Thank you Raphie" I whispered and laid next to him.

"Stupid Mikey and his stupid movies" he mumbled and he went back to sleep. I slept really well that night.

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><p>Because it's two little chapters I decided to upload two of them at once. Thanks again for reading and to those of you who reviewed I love you guys, thank you.<p> 


	13. Nerds

**The little turtle:**

_The advantage of being smart is that you can pretend to be ignorant, it doesn't really work if it's the other way around. (My Daddy)_

13) Nerds.

Donnie had given us some books to study from, all of us had to learn stuff from them because we couldn't go to school like the kids on tv did. Master Splinter said that it was very important to learn these things, information was also a form of power he said. Donnie was best at studying he only had to read a page once before he understood it completely, he even read very difficult books about machines and science. Donnie was smartest, books told him how to fix things, I tried once to read about mechanics but it used very long words I did not understand.

We were practicing our math, Leo and Donnie already knew more so they had a more difficult book to study from. Raph almost understood it, but me and Mikey were hopelessly lost. Donnie called them equations and they were supposed to be basic math problems, they sure didn't seem basic to me.

"psst, Pinky you know the answer yet?" Mikey asked.

"No, I don't even get what we're supposed to do." I answered, I tried to peak at Raph's sheet but he already was much ahead of us.

"Ah man I wanna do something else." Mikey said and bumped his head against the table. On his page were more doodles than anything else.

"Ssshhht, master Splinter and Donnie says that it is very important." I said while studying one of his more detailed drawings, I guess it was one of his favorite superhero's.

"Yeah? I don't see how we are going to use this crap" Mikey complained again.

"Michelangelo if you do not mind your language while reading books maybe I should confiscate your other books as well." Master Splinter threatened, he was talking of course about the comic books Mikey had found in the dump.

"I'm sorry master." He continued to try, but like me he was failing miserably. Then our study hour was over and he rushed as far away from the books as he could. Raph also went to do something different with Leo. I did not want to quit, I wanted to figure out how to do this. If my brothers could do it so could I.

"Thanny, don't you want to go watch some cartoons? The hour is over you know?" it was Donnie, master Splinter says he learns quicker because he has a great mind. I want to learn too even if I don't have a great mind.

"I know, I just want to figure this out" I said and kept staring at the stupid equation. There had to be a way to do this, oh come on, how do you get the X out of the stupid formula.

"You know I could help you with that if you want." Donnie suggested.

"Really? You'd do that?" I asked, he just smiled, nodded and sat next to me where Mikey sat a moment before.

"So what's the problem?" he asked.

"I don't know how you solve this." he took the book and watched it over, I could see in his eyes that he already knew the answer to the question, which made me feel bad because it probably wasn't all that difficult. But Donnie didn't laugh at me he just explained it in simple words and showed me a couple of times how to solve them.

"That's all?" I asked and stared at my paper of now solved equations.

"Yeah, that's all." He smiled.

"Thank you Donnie!" I hugged him and twirled around, happy that I was now a little smarter than before.

"No problem little turtle." He took the books and placed them on their right places in the closet.

"You want me to help you with your experiments?" I asked, I wanted to help him now "I could be your assistant and give you stuff like doctors do on tv!" I said.

"Sure little turtle, if that's what you want." I helped him fixing stuff. I found it fascinating when he succeeded in bringing a machine back to life.

"Do you really learn all of that from a book?" I asked him, I didn't understand how books could explain how to fix a toaster.

"Well not exactly, I've just learned the basics and I figured out how everything works from there on. I've also torn open a lot of these babies to see how they work too." Donnie said while screwing some wires together.

"So what are you working on there?" I pointed to a bunch of metal and wires sticking out of some kind of tv.

"That's a computer, or at least it used to be one." I know what a computer is, science guys use it in their laboratories. "I'm trying to figure out how it works, but it is a lot more complicated than a toaster so it's going to take me a while to get one working."

"What does a computer do exactly?" I asked, sure I've seen them a couple of times but I don't have the slightest clue what it is supposed to do.

"It can do all sorts of things, hand me that screwdriver please." he said while tinkering some more on his toaster, I handed him said tool. "Thanks, well for one you can control different things with it, kinda like a remote and you can get on the Internet, were all kinds of information is stored, kinda like a big library filled with all the books in the world." It was a bit too much for me to comprehend, but I understood that Donnie found it important, so therefore I would try and help him.

"If you want I can try and buy one in the store, but I don't think I have seen a computer there." Whenever I went shopping for supplies (when we had gathered enough money), there was only food in the store that master Splinter brought me to, no such computers or at least not that I knew of.

"Of course there aren't computers in that store, you have to go to a special one, but they cost a lot of money. More money than you can find on the street so the only way for me to get one is to fix one, but I haven't found a book about that kind of technology yet so I'm having a harder time figuring it out." He frowned at the little piece of equipment in his hand. Donnie's normally very gentle and easy going but when he can't figure something out he can get kinda cranky, then again when he does figure it out eventually he's dancing on clouds.

"Oh, well, I'll try to find you a book then!" I said proudly. He smiled at me and ruffled my hair, which caused my headband to fall over my eyes.

"I appreciate you trying to help me, but it is not so easy to find a book about computers, they are rare and people don't usually throw them away."

"Still I'm going to try!" I said, he smiled again.

"Thank you little turtle, now I'm all done with this one" he said and proudly stared at his revived toaster, my brother is the greatest fixer in all the world! He is the smartest person too ! "What do you say we go and play with Mikey?" he suggested.

"Yeah !"

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><p>I uploaded two more chapters, sorry they are kinda short again. But next one is a long one and it has some action in it!<p>

Thanks for reading and reviewing and faving my stories I really appreciate it !


	14. Weapons

**The little turtle:**

_A weapon is only as good as the arm that wields it. (Master Splinter)_

14) Weapons.

My brothers were thirteen years old now and they got their first real weapon. I got to practice with the bokken with them, but I wasn't so good at it. I could stand my own for a while but after three blows the wood would hurt my hands so I was forced to let go. Mikey knew that I didn't really like this training so he'd go easy on me, he didn't put as much strength behind his blows as the others did. But master Splinter noticed of course and paired me up with someone else, fortunately for me that someone else was Donnie. Leo was surprisingly good at this, even more outstanding than usual. But today was time for them to take off the ninja training wheels and get their main weapons.

Master Splinter had gotten all sorts of ninja weapons from his friend the ancient one in Japan. I don't exactly know the name of all the weapons but there were very large swords Nodachi, large swords Katana's, shorter swords Wakizashi and very short swords Tanto's . Then there were other kind of blades: kusarigama which were sickles with chains attached to them, Kunai and chiruken which were little blades and throwing stars, sai's which were dangerous looking forks and so on.

There were also a lot of wooden weapons: a large wooden stick named a bo staff and two little pieces of wood attached to each other with a chain, Nunchucks, a three section staff, which was actually kind of like the nunchucks but with an extra piece added.

I couldn't wait to finally get my very own weapon, I always liked the blades, they were so shiny. But seeing how bad I am with the wooden ones no way am I going to get something as cool like a katana.

"Michelangelo come forth." Master Splinter said, and Mikey kneeled in front of him. I saw Sensei going to the wooden section of the rack.

"I give you the Nunchaku, you are the fastest and most creative, your qualities will prove most affective while handling this weapon, may they help you protect this family. Train well and make them your own my son."

"Thank you Sensei" he bowed and returned to his spot.

"Donatello" now Donnie sat in front of master Splinter. Again master Splinter went to the wooden section, maybe for their first weapon all of them get a wooden one.

"I give you the bo-staff, you are the most peaceful and brightest of mind in your hands this seemingly simple weapon can proven to be most effective, may it help you protect this family. Train well and make it your own my son."

"Thank you Sensei"

"Raphaël" Raphie sat in front of master Splinter and I saw a gleam in his eyes when Sensei finally went to the blade side.

"I give you the sai's, you are the most passionate and dedicated that is why I am convinced you can master the skill required to wield these weapons, may they help you protect this family. Train well and make them your own my son." He bowed and returned to his place, aww that was a cool weapon, I wanted that too.

"Thank you Sensei"

"Leonardo." He too sat now in front of master splinter, I wasn't surprised when he too went to the blades again.

"I give you the double Katana, you are the most controlled and skilled, these weapons will help you translate that dedication and skill, may they help you protect this family. Train well and make them your own my son."

" Thank you sensei"

They all bowed a final time.

"Before your training starts my sons, I must point out that these are merely tools to channel your inner strength, they are tools to help protect yourself and our family. Remember a weapon is only as good as it's master and in a hand of a true ninja everything is a deadly weapon."

"Hai, sensei." They all chorused. In the hand of a true ninja everything is a deadly weapon, true to that, I've seen what master Splinter can do with his walking stick.

"But do not forget that those are in fact weapons you are holding, treat them with respect and honor. I trust you with them my sons, do not let me down." Translation, play with the shiney blades and you will get punished. They all nodded and bowed.

They were all very excited with their weapons, and I couldn't blame them, still I was a little jealous that they got them already. It was just another proof of the barrier that stood between us as ninja. I'm still a beginner and they got to do more advanced stuff, still there is but one thing I can do about this, train as hard as I can and wait until master Splinter finds me worthy enough. Whenever that may be.

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><p>I've uploaded 2 chapters cause they're kinda short.<p>

From here on there will be more action.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed and faved my story !


	15. First fight

**The little turtle:**

_Courage isn't the opposite of fear, but the strength to act despite of it._

15) First fight.

I was out for the day, we were all allowed to wander freely in the sewers and I even got to go topside if I promised to be very careful. Normally I wouldn't do that because I didn't think it was fair that I could and my brothers couldn't, plus Raph would get very cranky for a while. But now I sat on a bench in central park enjoying the sunlight, Donnie had given me a watch and I knew that I had to be home in an hour for my training.

Everybody is busy at home, as we speak master Splinter was training them … with their weapons of course. I knew my skill still wasn't as advanced enough to handle a weapon but still … it always fascinated me the way they used them, I really liked Raph's sais.

I wonder what kinda weapon master Splinter will give me one day, whichever one it is. I will train with it until I become one with it, as Leo often put it. He and his katana's were inseparable from the day master Splinter bestowed him with them. Master Splinter even made him leader, that means Leo was boss in his absence and he had to train even more than the rest of us. Still I couldn't help but wonder where I fit into their team, they already were great. Five is such an unlucky number, I would only weigh them down with my lack of skill.

It was my most feared nightmare, them getting into trouble because of my weakness. Master Splinter often assured me that like my brothers I possessed special abilities none of them had, I didn't know what they are though. Leo is the most skilled, Raph the strongest, Donnie the smartest and Mikey the most creative. In my eyes my brothers were the most magnificent beings on earth and I was lucky that I got to grow up with them instead of with the humans.

Master Splinter told me that he too found me in the sewers like he did my brothers, I was cast away by the humans, they did not want me. That was fine with me, I couldn't imagine a better family than the one I have now.

I put all the depressing stuff behind me and made my way to the alleyway I knew a man hole was. I kept a careful eye on all the humans that I passed along the way, though no one would probably attack me I knew they would attack my beloved brothers and that made all of them my enemy, they could not be trusted.

I entered the alley and got down to lift the lit. I heard a couple of people enter the alleyway, oh crap. Frantically I looked around I won't be able to get the heavy lid off fast enough to disappear unnoticed in the sewers. Hiding, hiding place, I had to vanish in the shadows. Unfortunately the only shadow close enough was coming from some garbage cans but they'll have to do.

…

Stupid! Stupid ! Stupid ! Spotted from my hiding place, I got injured by one human and I was late for training. They will either be super worried or mad as hell. I had to stop and hold onto the wall to support my weight, the adrenaline from the fight had died down and my leg was really throbbing now. I slumped with my back against the moist sewer wall and slid down. My lungs ached terribly, I didn't realize how exhausted I was, I carefully sat down thinking that after a short break I'd be able to go on again. When I stretched my leg out in front of me (careful to avoid most of the unrecognizable filth on the sewer floor) I noticed that the pulsing pain did not stop even when I didn't put any weight on it … that can't be good.

I lifted my pants to see the damage, from what I could determine with the little light seeping in the sewer I noticed some serious discoloring and when I carefully examined the tender area with my fingertips they came back sticky, probably blood from where the hard texture of his combat boot scraped through the fabric of my pants. It didn't feel broken though … not that I've ever broken anything before but I'm sure that if my leg was broken I wouldn't be able to stand on it at all. I checked my watch, damn an hour to late and I am nowhere near the lair and with my injuries it will take me at least another hour to reach it.

Come on Theng Sjen, you can do it, just make sure you get home before they get into trouble while trying to find you. I continued to encourage myself for a few moments after a ten minutes my erratic heartbeat finally slowed down. Good time as any to get up and go on, it won't do me any good to just sit here.

I pulled myself up by an old waterpipe and went on homewards, I wondered how long it would take them to notice something was wrong? I remembered one time that master Splinter left me behind to search for my brothers when they were late, I think my father is amazing, but I'm nowhere near the route I usually take to go home and it could take him hours to find me. It would also take me hours to get home at the pace I was going.

I was limping around for 10 minutes now and I haven't travelled more than three meters, I had to sit down again. I felt kinda wobbely and I feared that if I tripped now I would definitely break my leg. I listened to the sewers trying to calm myself down again. I heard a couple of rats scurrying around, some water dripping, more rats.

I hoped I knocked that guy out good and that he hadn't managed to follow me somehow, sure he would get lost very soon but if he got his buddy's and knew the direction in which I was going it wouldn't be too hard to find me. I hadn't been very stealthy in my limping around and it had almost been an hour.

I listened again fear creeping into my weakened body and my imagination took off, I tried not to think about the utter panic I felt when he pulled that gun on me, good thing I was close enough to kick it out of his hands. God that look on his face, he was smiling, that monster was going to kill me and he was smiling. Don't think about that Theng Sjen, you have to calm yourself down. I did some breathing exercises Leo always did while meditating, it helped a little bit.

I noticed after twenty minutes that the rats had gone awfully quiet, that send a wave of panic if my heart wasn't beating like crazy already it sure was now. Rats are only quiet when they sense a threat approaching, they are quite good at that maybe that's were master Splinter got his superb ninja senses.

I had to put a hand to my mouth in a desperate attempt to hide my panicked breathing that bordered on hysterical. Please don't let it be him, please don't let it be them, please don't let it be them. There was a voice in my head that said it could be my family looking for me but I did not dare call out to find out, even if it meant spending the night injured and alone in the sewers. If those goons found me now I was as good as dead.

Calm down, calm down, it's dark, they can't see me and they don't know their way around. If I just stay really quiet they'll never find me. I heard faint footsteps now, there was more than one, it couldn't possibly be master Splinter. Be calm Theng Sjen, even if they should pass by chances are they won't see me if I stay silent.

I tried to blend in with the wall as best as I could, maybe I could pass off for a garbage bag or something, I had to stifle a screech when I accidentally bumped my injured leg against the wall.

Then I heard a voice, it broke the silence I was focusing on so fiercely that it startled me completely.

"Thanny ! Where are you! Thanny ! Can you hear me?" Never before was I so glad to hear him, my brothers voice. It was Mikey and he was close, relief flooded through me.

"Mikey! I'm here!" I yelled back as hard as I could, I didn't care if I sounded desperate, I just wanted to get home.

"Leo ! I Heard her! This way !" I heard the both of them coming my way, I saw their flashlights in the distance , I let myself relax now. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes I let the tension slip away, it were my brothers, they hadn't followed me. I hissed when my pants tugged at the wound, because of the filthy sewer water it clung to the tender flesh.

It didn't take them long to reach me, I flinched a bit when the flashlight shone right into my eyes. When I opened my eyes Mikey had already pulled me in a bone-crushing hug. I didn't mind, never before had I felt the need to be so close to them.

"Thanny! Oh shell, Don't ever scare me like that again!" I felt a little guilty, lousy ninja I turn out to be.

"I'm happy to see you too guys, sorry you had to come and find me." I said and hugged him just as fiercely back.

"What happened?" Leo asked. I could feel the worry in his tone, which made me feel a little relief. He wasn't as mad at me as I had feared.

"I ran into some trouble and I couldn't get away for a while." I'll tell them the details later, right now I just really wanted to get home. Leo seemed to understand me somehow, he sometimes seemed to know exactly what we were thinking.

"Are you injured?" Leo asked again. I just nodded in shame.

"Where?" Mikey asked and checked me over, I saw him eying the little scratches I got all over my body and some of the larger bruises on my arms. Stupid sensitive skin! Why do I bruise so easily? well alright depending on the force that mountain put behind his attacks I guess I got off lightly.

"My leg" I said, before I could stop them Leo had uncovered the wound and Mikey hissed at the sight of it, it looked worse than it felt in the artificial light.

"That does not look good." Mikey even growled a bit, it frightened me more than anything else. Mikey didn't get angry, sure he got mad when someone messed with his comics but truly angry no, I don't think I've ever seen that side of my brother before. Maybe I did really screw up.

"Mikey, you go and find master Splinter and the others, they were checking the eastern and western side of the sewers, tell them to come to the lair immediately I'll bring her home." Leo said, he was in leader mode now. Mikey nodded, gave me a kiss on my forehead and sped off.

Leo sighed and picked me up without a word. His demeanor was different from what I was used to. I almost started crying, I already felt like I failed. He did not speak until we got to the lair and placed me on the couch.

He got some water and started to clean the wound on my leg. I hissed, the water stung and he was rubbing the wound a little harshly but I guess he wanted to get all the icky sewer water out of it before it got the chance to get infected. He did that thing though were he apologized by just looking at you and he tried to be more careful, but it had to be done. So with the little dignity I had left I tried not to be a baby.

"It's alright, I can do it" I said, I didn't want to burden him even more than I already had.

"No" he said without looking at me and focused on his job.

Master Splinter arrived at the same time with the others. Mikey rushed to my side and the others stopped in their tracks when they saw me. Master Splinter looked sad. He was disappointed, that look almost made my cry again. Ninja do not cry, well ninja do not get discovered and beaten either.

"My daughter what happened?" Master Splinter asked, he rubbed some of the strands of hair out of my face and tucked them behind my ear. The strange mixed emotions in the air, they were all sad and angry at the same time it was confusing and when Leo brushed across a particular sore part again I just lost the bit of self control I was so desperately clinging onto.

"I was going to come home on time master I swear!" I cried. "I left on time! I tried to get the sewer open but I heard something, I hid myself master like you thought me, I really did !"

"Shhh it's alright calm down, now little one tell us what happened." Master Splinter comforted me and rubbed my back, Mikey sat himself next to me and took my hand, Donny took over Leo's job and started bandaging my leg. Leo and Raph looked like they were about to kill though, so I couldn't relax just yet, I tried but for the love of god I couldn't stop crying.

"They were the bad people with the purple tattoo's, there were four of them, two of them got into a fight and they were about to knock over my hiding place. So I panicked and ran out of the alley and into the next one where I hid again. But one of them followed me and he started to fight me. I didn't have a choice master, I did as you told me I was like water I didn't strike until the right time and escaped."

"How did you get that wound, little turtle?" Donnie asked.

"I underestimated his strength , I tried to block his kick when I should have avoided it." I heard Mikey grasp.

"That is from one kick!" he exclaimed, I nodded.

"You're lucky he didn't have a gun." Raph growled. I didn't want to aggravate him any further so I didn't comment on that just looked in the other direction.

"Thanny, did he pull a gun on you?" Donnie asked, I tried to shake no but I wouldn't convince anyone anyway. Why does he have to know me so well, even when I don't say anything Donnie knows I'm lying.

"How did you … " Mikey stopped mid sentence for some reason, back to angry huh … damn. I knew what we wanted to know though, how did I survive?

"I knocked it out of his hands before he fired and I took it with me when the fight was over and dumped it in the sewers." I said, Mikey patted my back.

"Good job Pinky" I wiped away the tears and sniffed my nose a bit.

"How did you beat him?" Donnie asked.

"I didn't exactly win, he tripped over his …" better not mention that he attacked me with a baseball bat too "… he tripped and I kicked him, he stayed down long enough for me to escape." I saw by Raph's elevated eyebrow that he hadn't missed my little slip up.

"Tripped over what?" he growled.

"Nothing, he just fell." I said a little too quickly.

"Thanny …" he growled and clenched his fists to the point where they were almost white. Oh come on just let it go please.

"Raph, calm down." Leo ordered, Raph just breathed in and out a couple of times and did his very best to calm down, obviously it wasn't working.

"Theng Sjen, you tell me right now what he tripped over or I swear to God I'll march up there and make him tell me myself!" I flinched a bit at his harsh tone, even Leo took a step back.

"Raphaël calm down now!" Master Splinter ordered. I didn't want Raph topside now, or any of them for that matter, it seemed like such a stupid thing to lose his cool over. But when Raph gets into one of his moods the smallest things can set him off.

"He sorta … tripped over the remains of his … bat." Everyone was silent.

"You better be talking about bat as in a bird, cause no way some street punk dares to attack my little sister with a baseball one." Raph snapped.

"Actually Raph a bat isn't a bird, it's a mam… not important." Donnie was interrupted mid-ramble by Raph's growl.

"It was no big deal! He was too slow, I ducked and it got smashed into a million pieces on the wall!" why do I get the feeling that I'm only making matters worse? I lowered my eyes and started to cry again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I wailed and latched onto master Splinter's robe.

"Why are you apologizing my daughter?" master Splinter patted my back again.

"I failed, I got discovered, I won without honor, I got injured and everyone's mad" I wailed.

"Don't cry Pinky, we aren't mad at you" Mikey said as he ruffled my hair a bit.

"Of course we are not, little ninja" Leo said, I saw him looking angry at Raph though. Raphie in turn refused to look at me and stomped into the dojo, I could almost hear pleas of mercy coming from the punching bag he was currently abusing.

"Raph isn't mad at you either, in fact he is very happy to see that you are alright, though he may show it in a weird way." Donnie said.

"That's not Raph's happy face" I sniffed, Mikey laughed.

"Raph has a happy face?" he giggled, Leo shot him a glare that clearly said that now was not the time for jokes.

"Well Theng Sjen how would you feel if one of your brothers got attacked?" Father tried to reason.

I tried to imagine that, true I would be angry, probably even hate the person that would dare hurt one of my brothers.

"No, my brothers are strong master, they would not have gotten hurt, they would not have been discovered!" Mikey blushed a bit when I said that. You can tell me what you want but in my eyes my brothers are amazing, powerful and the strongest and magnificent-est beings on this earth.

"Perhaps, but you have shown courage and strength too today, I am impressed and very proud of you my daughter"

"Really?"

"We sure are little ninja, you faced off an opponent bigger in size and physical strength unarmed. You won with honor, you are not the one who is at fault here." Leo gave me a smile that said everything was going to be fine, than he had a look of determination like he was about to practice a difficult move in training and went to the dojo.

I was shaken from my thoughts when Donny probed my leg none too gently. For a change it was Mikey who slapped him on the head. The scene almost made me laugh, usually the others were the ones doing the slapping and Mikey was the slappee.

"Dude, why did you do that for?" Mikey asked.

"I was trying to feel if the bone was broken or not" he explained. "Going from the lack of swelling I'm guessing no, but I shouldn't move around too much the next couple of days." Donny said, no ! Not again! I want to train, not be bedridden.

"Days? No way she's never walking again! Don't fret my princess I'll carry you wherever you want to go, you never have to use those leggies again" he proclaimed, I surely hoped he was kidding. Still he made me smile.

"DOESN'T MATTER ! I swear if I ever catch the bastard! " I heard Raph yell from the dojo. I heard Leo in vain trying to calm him down.

"Translation: Thanny I love you very much and I'm angry at the person who hurt you." Donnie explained.

"Well the feeling is mutual, but he's going to think twice before attacking you again! Pinky you're so awesome!" Mikey hugged me.

"Do you want anything, Pinky? I happen to know that there are some yummie pancakes with your name on it!" Mikey suggested.

"Pancakes do sound good." I admitted when my stomach growled a bit.

"Then I shall prepare them for you my lady." Mikey bowed in a butler-like manner and took off.

"I'm going to see if we have some coldpacks lying around." Donnie said and left too.

Who knew Donnie spoke fluent Raph, I'll have to ask him to translate more often.

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><p>So here it is, Thanny's first fight. I hope you guys liked this chapter I was really excited about this when I wrote it. I rewrote it a couple of times actually.<p>

Thank you who reviewed!


	16. Fun

**The little turtle:**

_You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grown old because you stop laughing._

16) Fun

"Gear it up team!" Mikey yelled. I laughed at his antics. Because I wasn't allowed to move around much I spend most of my time vegging in front of the television with Mikey. He made sure to introduce me to his favorite action series, one of which was Alfa Teens On Machines. I thought it's pretty good, though that's probably because of my favorite character.

"Come on Lioness on your bike." He ordered. "Paine is up to no good again." Jep, Lioness or Catalina Leone, a kick ass girl that can hold her own in a team of 4 super macho manly guys and without needing to be rescued every other episode. For some reason I related to her quite a lot.

"There's no way you are Axel." I leaned over my bike (couch) to look at him "You're more of a Shark, Leo is more the Axel type." He glared a bit at me as he was pretending to go a zillion miles an hour on his imaginary dirtbike/skateboard. Axel Manning is the leader of this team of teenagers.

"Like I say dude every five minutes." he turned his eyes. "Just watch." he concentrated for a moment and went "Jo lan jo mastaaaaahhhhh!" he forgot he was on his skateboard while he tried to pull off an Axel Manning Jo lan technique.

"Just give it up bro, you're a Shark, nothing wrong with that. I always thought shark was way cooler anyways." He peeked up sheepishly at me as I leaned over the back of the couch. He flipped himself up on his feet.

"So you think that Donnie could make us some awesome vehicles like that?" he asked.

"I don't know if any of those things are physically possible, but I'm sure that when he figures out how to do it he'll build something more awesome then all those things put together!" I exclaimed.

"Take it easy you two, remember you're still recovering." Leo said as he passed us.

"Still don't think he's Axel material … dude." He pouted a bit.

"Seriously, he's the leader, he has that martial arts prodigy thing going on, he's a bit uptight… telling you, he's our Axel." I stuck to my point. "Besides you are funny, easygoing and you fight in an awesome way … you're our Shark."

"So what makes you Lioness material?" he critically eyed me over.

"Duh, I'm the only girl and I'm kinda good at doing flips! Hands down I'm Lioness!" I exclaimed.

"Alright what about Donnie?" he asked as we watched our brother tinker with a new machine he fished up somewhere.

"Well he could be King, King's pretty smart, he's always hacking into stuff and he's sweet he loves animals." He taught about it for a bit and shrugged.

"Sure Donnie can be King, he's more of a Garret though." Garret was the brains behind all the vehicles but he couldn't fight seeing that he was in a wheelchair, I agreed that my bro was at least as smart as this fictional character but he could kick butt as well. Plus Garret wasn't really part of the team.

"Donnie's smarter than Garret alright, but he can kick butt too, so compromise King." this was just plain action series logic, it was not up for debate. I crossed my arms and like a little bratty child I looked the other way until I got what I wanted.

"I think you are awfully bossy today." He poked my side.

"Hey you guys ordered me not to move a muscle, I can be bossy all I want." I tried to poke him back but he moved away to quickly which made me almost fall out off the chair.

"Easy there tiger." He laughed as he performed a few tricks on his skateboard.

"See I am so Lioness." I boasted. "Vamos!" I yelled her sorta catch phrase. He laughed at my antics and put his board away.

"Still think I should be Axel." He pouted again and jumped next to me on the couch.

"Think about it this way, Raph has to be Hawk by default." He had to laugh about that.

"Scoot over, Sonic the hedgehog time!" he said as he flipped through the channels.

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><p>I entered this chapter at the last moment, for those of you who don't know A.T.O.M. it's a show about five teens who get to go crazy on newly designed test-vehicles and get paid to do so, and they fight crime along the way.<p>

I really liked it when I was little, I rewatched it recently for fun, now I don't really know why I was so crazy about it. But that's the wonder of being a kid isn't it?

I put in the sonic thing right now because I almost laughed my butt off in class today, we were learning about some techniques for manipulating organic tissues in the lab and suddenly the teacher goes, we call this the sonic hedgehog, you know because of the animated series! I was like whoot for adults who love cartoons!

Anyway, thank you reviewers!


	17. Nightmare

**The little turtle:**

_The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all. (The emperor - Mulan)_

17) Nightmare.

The next couple of days I woke up more exhausted than when I went to sleep. Actually I don't think I slept more than a couple of hours since the encounter. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that human again, I have never been more scared in my life.

I had literally escaped the claws of death, he tried to kill me. The anger and hatred behind his attacks were something I had never encountered before, I was so happy that master Splinter pushed me so hard when it came to avoiding attacks.

I still couldn't believe I won ... well I didn't win technically he tripped, fell and I kicked him while I had the chance so I would have enough time to escape. Not really honorable, but master Splinter and Leo assured me that I did the right thing and in no way have I somehow broken some law of bushido.

But I could still see the smirk on his face as he pulled that gun out, he was going to shoot me and he was smiling. Humans are heartless creatures, how many people had he finished off like that? I was lucky I knew how to defend myself, I've been training all my life and still escaped barely.

Seems like tonight will be another sleepless night, every time I close my eyes I relived it all. It would be a while before I could sleep without nightmares again and let alone go outside, humans are everywhere after all. Not all of them are like that monster but still ... I let myself fall backwards on my pillow. It's a silly thing really, a nightmare, just your own mind trying to scare you. I should realize that the guy wasn't really all that big as he appeared in my dream, I know that the sky doesn't get the dark blood red color as it did and the city, especially New York, is never that quiet.

I yelped a bit when I heard someone knocking on my door.

"Thanny? You alright?" it was Leo.

"Yeah, come in." he entered, I smiled in embarrassment. A ninja afraid of someone knocking on their door.

"Don said you might have trouble walking, wanna give it a try?" he held out his hands.

"I'm alright Leo." I threw my legs out of my bed, my leg was bandaged up pretty tightly courtesy of Donnie. It felt stiff and it hurt a little when I moved my foot, but I should be able to lean on it. Just to humor my big brother I took his still outstretched hands and allowed him to pull me to my feet, after all he was just worried about me.

He pulled me up, just as I thought it was uncomfortable to walk around but not painful.

"I'm alright, thanks" I smiled he nodded and followed close behind me as I went outside.

"Goooood morning, my favorite sister can I tempt you with my special scrambled eggs?" Mikey put on a show setting the table ninja style.

"Yes please" Leo still followed close behind me as I limped to my chair, it would take a while to reassure him that I wasn't going to break apart spontaneously.

The rest of the day went by relatively easy, I didn't have to do a thing ... again it was getting really old. I just sat on the couch watching tv with Mikey or Donnie, let me get up to get myself something to drink. Every time I was about to, one of them jumped up and did it for me.

I watched them train like I always did and tried to memorize their moves as best as I could, master Splinter wouldn't let me train for a while so I had to at least try and keep up.

That evening I was exhausted, I went to bed early but every time I fell asleep I had that same, stupid nightmare again. I almost cried out of frustration, I wanted to sleep but I was too afraid to. After a while I dozed off again but I woke up with a shock; me staring down the barrel of a gun and hearing a loud bang, I woke up with a scream.

I sat in my bed and flicked my lamp on, I was panting and sweating like I had run a marathon. I heard some commotion going on outside and I clamped my hand over my mouth when the door abruptly flew open, I will not scream twice in my own room.

It was Donnie, he stood in pose five of the third kata we learned, about to perform a tiger punch to whoever was in my room. He looked around for a while trying to decipher the danger, I felt really stupid now.

He saw my scared wide eyed eyes and came to a more realistic conclusion than some random sewer monster attack.

"Nightmare?" he guessed. I nodded and pulled my blanket closer around me. He came closer and sat on the edge of my bed. "You want to talk about it?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine" I said.

"Thanny, you're exhausted, did you even sleep at all the last couple of days?" no matter what answer I would give him would sound pathetic so I remained quiet. He sighed "Scoot over." he ordered.

I did as I was told, he crawled in next to me.

"Was it about the attack?" he asked and put his arm around me, I snuggled closer to him and nodded.

"I was scared, Donnie." I whimpered pathetically and hid my face in his side.

"Shhh, it's alright he can't get to you anymore." He whispered, "It's over, you're home now nothing can happen to you here." he hugged me closer and rubbed my back a bit.

"Please don't tell the others" I said and peaked up at him.

"Why not?" he wondered, "They won't mind, sure it would send Raph to torture his punching bag some more but …"

"No please don't tell them?" I pleaded.

"Why not?" he waited patiently for my response.

"Ninja are not supposed to be scared" I said, "Ninja are supposed to be brave and strong, like you guys Donnie, you are brave and strong." I explained he thought about that for a while.

"Being scared isn't the opposite of brave you know, you acted despite of being scared that is being brave. You are brave and strong little turtle, you just don't know it yet." He kissed my forehead and snuggled under the blankets. I smiled at that, Donnie always knew what to do, or what to say, he is a genius after all. I kissed his cheek and laid down next to him.

"Love you Donnie."

"Love you too little turtle." he said "Sweet dreams." the next time I had a dream where the guy attacked me I was always backed up by my brothers, all of them and we beat him every time.

* * *

><p>Again sorry for the long wait! I'll make it up to you guys and upload 2 chapters at once !<p>

It's sort of cheezy I know.


	18. Issues

**The little turtle:**

_Love takes of masks we fear we cannot live without, but know we cannot live within_

18) Issues.

My leg healed really fast, only eight days after the incident and I was back on my feet training with the others. Everything was back to normal, well almost everything, Leo was still acting a little strange towards me.

He always seemed to be keeping an eye on me, he even went with me and master Splinter when I went grocery shopping, don't get me wrong I really like spending more time with him. I just wonder about the reason behind it.

I was getting annoyed, it has been two weeks now since the accident and he still wasn't over his weird behavior, true in the beginning they all acted like I was going to break. Donnie and Mikey got over it first, Raphie took a bit longer, but Leo come on …

Today I was going to burst though, I was training with him in the dojo. Avoiding attacks again, but I could tell he wasn't even trying to beat me. I could hold this pace on for hours and I wouldn't have broken into a sweat. If there was one thing I couldn't stand was someone going easy on me.

So when he didn't snap out of it after a couple of minutes I turned the tables, I surprised him when I got down and kicked his legs from underneath him. He was so out of it that he didn't even saw that one coming and crashed on the floor.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"What are you doing? You're not even trying!" I yelled back.

"This is not combat training Thanny. It's practicing your techniques." He said as he flipped back on his feet.

"Well then get serious already so I can practice, you're going easy on me! Attack me already." I yelled. That seemed to shock him, he frowned at me and just left the dojo without a word.

"Leo, wait." I tried to go to him but he had ran off already. "Oh come on! Coward!" I yelled.

"Heya tiger picking fights with Leo? Isn't that my job?" Raphie laughed from his spot on the couch.

"Don't know what his problem is." I said and placed myself next to him. "He let me win." I huffed.

"Oh no he didn't." He said with a lot of sarcasm, without looking away from the tv screen.

"No seriously, he's always keeping an eye on me, he doesn't train with me anymore the way he used to … I don't know what has gotten into him."

He turned around and sighed "Tried asking him?" he placed his arm around the couch, we was looking at me like it was the obvious thing to do. Yeah right as if he and Leo always talk about their problems before they ended up fighting.

"Well … I was going to … but he ran off already … oh damn." I cursed when I realized that I should at least try to talk to him first before biting his head off. With a sigh I stood up and went to find Leo. I heard Raph chuckle a bit. Never thought to see the roles so reversed around here, me the hothead and Raph the levelheaded middleman.

Leo was in his room, meditating. I quietly shoved open his door and peered inside.

"Leo, am I disturbing you?" he didn't say anything and ignored me, I sighed and was about to leave.

"Come in" he said and got out of his meditation position and sat more comfortably on his bed.

"Leo, I'm sorry I yelled at you." he nodded and seemed to be seeking for something to say. "so … I just wanted to ask if something was wrong you've been acting strangely the last couple of days."

He sighed and rubbed his head.

"I know, I'm sorry … it's just … ever since …" he started, but dropped his head into his hands. He looked defeated, somehow, I've never seen him this way he always seemed so invincible and fearless no matter what he did. It shocked me quite a bit to see my brother like this.

"Leo?" I got closer to him and touched his arm. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" his voice sounded a little shaky, I threw my arms around him as much as I could with his shell, and after a while he hugged me back.

"It's alright, it's alright" I tried to comfort him, he even seemed to cry a little, which made me feel really guilty Leo never cries. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

"I was scared" he whispered, scared? Leo didn't get scared, well there was that incident with the heights but he conquered that fear already.

"Of what?" I asked quietly.

"Master Splinter he made me leader." He said, I knew that already.

"But isn't that a good thing?" I asked.

"I'm honored that he chose me but, it means that I am responsible, if anything happens to any of you it is my fault. And when you got hurt, it could have been so much … I mean what if you … he had a …" he just hugged me tighter.

"I don't think master Splinter means for you to feel guilty about this, it isn't your fault you know." I rubbed his head in a comforting way.

"But I'm supposed to protect everyone, I failed." He looked up to me then.

"You weren't there Leo, it's nobody's fault … well maybe the guy that attacked me was to blame a bit but that's not the point … I don't think that being leader means you are responsible for every bad thing that happens to us, you just have to help us make the right decisions and shape us into one team, so we function better together. Protecting is not just your job you know, remember when master Splinter gave you guys your weapons?" he nodded.

"He said may your weapon help you protect our family, he didn't just say that to you. We defend each other and ourselves, and that's what I did I protected myself and here I am mostly unharmed because of the training I had. So it is partially thanks to you that I am alright, you did protect me, our training helped it is just another way of helping protect each other."

"Thanks little ninja I really needed that." he sniffed a bit and seemed embarrassed that he actually cried a little.

"No problem big brother, for what it's worth I think you are a great leader." I smiled.

"How did you get so wise at such a young age?" he asked.

"Hey you have your talents … and apparently I have mine" I smiled, could it be one of my talents, perhaps? I thought back to when I was in the park.

"I love you little ninja."

"Love you too big brother," I bend and gave him a kiss on the cheek and hugged him again, " don't you ever stop looking out for us." I whispered and broke the small hug.

"Yeah right, look what trouble you get into when I don't" he stood and flexed his muscles a bit.

"Hey, oh and next time please don't go so easy on me." I punched his arm.

"I'll try but you have to understand that you'll always gonna be my little sister." He smirked, oh come on.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I'll train with Raphie." I said, he had to laugh at that.

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><p>I decided that since I was so lazy I'd upload two chapters at once.<p>

Again thank you reviewers !


	19. Confrontation

**The little turtle:**

****_Sometimes being a brother is better then being a superhero._

19) Confrontation

"Why are we out here again?" Mikey complained for the umpteenth time. Mikey and I were roaming through the junkyard, since it was dusk I asked him to accompany me. I have no problems going out alone, but this way Leo's won't be stressing out as much. I figured that since Mikey's been cooped up in the lair for far too long, he could use some fresh air.

" I told you, Donnie needs a book that explains computers." I explained again.

"Yeah, I know, I know but WHY are WE out HERE?" he emphasized. I should have remembered that Mikey didn't have the patience to look for a needle in a haystack.

"Because I really want to help Donnie, once he makes INTERNET or something with the computer we will get a whole lot of information and don't have to go look for books ever again. Besides that poor guy has been stuck on that machine for a while and I can practically smell his brain cooking when he tries to figure it out."

"I still don't know why I am helping you." he complained again and half heartily searched through a pile of junk next to him.

"Because deep down you want to help Donnie as much as I do." he laughed at that.

"Yeah that and you made me somehow, still can't go up alone huh?" he teased.

"Oh, come on if you want to go, you can go, I'm allowed to be up here alone now Leo released me a week ago. But remember if I happen to find a silver century comic book I'm not going to take it with me." that did it.

"What happened to you Pinky, you used to be such a sweet and innocent little girl. Black mailing your big brother." He said, he was teasing though.

"Learned from the best." I winked, that made him laugh and we continued to search through the paper and cardboard section of the junkyard. A lot of cookbooks, manuals for all kinda machines and an endless amount of newspapers.

"I don't think we'll find anything today Pinky" Mikey said, I looked at my watch it was getting close to my training time too, damn. Oh well tomorrow is another day. Suddenly he pulled me out of the way and behind a pile of garbage, he motioned for me to be silent.

"Did you hear anything?" I heard someone say. There were two people who were walking through the junkyard. We couldn't sneak out, they were blocking our exit.

"No, I didn't." the other said, there were only two of them. From the look of their clothing I'd say they were homeless people, no need to fear them. But best for us to stay clear of them, Mikey motioned for me to go around and get a better hiding spot but when we moved some of the garbage lost its balance and came down making a lot of noise.

"Who is there?!" the first one yelled again.

"I swear if it is you purple dragons again, just come out and leave we already told you we don't have any money!" the second one yelled, they clutched pieces of metal in their hands so that they could defend themselves.

"Mikey, I'm going out and distract them, you jump into the water behind us and swim into the sewers, I'm going through the lid in the alley over there after I lose them." I whispered, I would have jumped in with him, but I couldn't hold my breath as long and I couldn't swim as fast as my brothers could. He grabbed my arm when I was about to carry out my plan.

"No way little sis, just stay put." He whispered back and made a grab for his nunchucks on his belt.

"Are you crazy? You can't fight them! " I whispered a little, I didn't know exactly what would happen if they were to see my brother but master Splinter assured me that it could destroy our family, so no way was I going to let him out in the open.

"I'm not leaving you alone with them!" He looked back and forth between me and the impending danger.

"Alright, I'll get their attention away from that exit for a while, you sneak into the alley and wait for me there." He still seemed reluctant but the two were coming closer and closer. He sighed and grabbed my shoulders so he stared right at me.

" Do not fight them, just talk to them or something and run away if they try anything, you hear me." Great now Mikey's in leader mode, what is it with my brothers and listening to me in dangerous situations, he's more at risk then I am.

"Alright, alright, just let me go, they are getting closer." Reluctantly he let go of my arm. I nodded at him in reassurance and ignored my screaming ninja instincts and came out of my hiding place. What am I doing? I've never talked to a human before. I don't have the slightest idea what I should say.

"Hey, it's just some kid." They both lowered their weapons. I had to fight against my instincts not to run away or to fall into a battle stance, I really didn't like humans but if they got any closer they might see my brother and I can't have that. One had a real dark skin colour and a grey beard, the other one was much younger and kind of scrawny looking.

"What are you doing here kid, this place isn't safe for a little one like you." the older one came closer. Don't back away, just stay put. I circled them for a bit until their backs were turned to the exit.

"Hey, come on kid we won't bite, you have a home?" he asked again. I have to say something, otherwise their attention isn't going to be on me for long. I didn't spot Mikey yet, oh come on hurry up.

"Yeah … yeah I have a home." That seemed to startle them a bit, they eyed my clothing for a while. Good thing I tie my mask as a head band when I'm not in the lair, that would have really roused some unwanted questions.

"Well, go along then this is no place for a kid." Scrawny was getting a little annoyed he probably thought that I was a stupid little street punk looking for trouble, well I looked the part.

"What are you doing here in the first place?" the older one was friendly . The other one's spotted something moving from his eye, damn Mikey I'm fine already, just get into the alleyway !

"I was looking for something." I said a little more loudly then necessary but it got that guy's attention back on me.

"Well what are you looking for? who knows we can help you, we hang around here quite a lot." The old friendly one asked again. He smiled at me.

"No thank you." I said politely, I started to fidget a little.

"Now don't be shy, we street folk have to help each other out." the second one, tried. Probably didn't buy my story, he made me frown a little. I saw that Mikey was waiting for the street to be clear to jump across it.

"I'm not street folk." I tried to sound friendly, I really did, I'm nothing like you stinky humans.

"Come on there must be something? Seeing were you are searching, I'd say you are in search of a book … am I right?" the old friendly one guessed. The other guy saw me looking in the direction of where Mikey was hiding.

"Well yes, a computer book actually" that got his attention back.

"I have a lot of books in our camp you can look through them if you want, its right over there." He pointed to the other side of the junkyard, I knew that place a lot of people camped there together, always making fires to keep warm and scavenging and begging for food.

"No thank you." just because the old one seemed friendly didn't mean I could trust him, after all he still was a human. Then a whistle came from the alleys on the side of the street, for a second I spotted the green hand of my brother waving at me. He made it out, I managed to distract them long enough for Mikey to sneak past them unnoticed.

"Well, I don't know if we have a book about computers lying around, but I could look if you want." the old friendly one said.

"What does a kid like you want with something like that?" the grumpy other one crossed his arms and stared down at me, I didn't like him.

"I have to go" I said and sped past them, I ran as quickly as I could over the street and into the alley where my brother was holding up the sewer lid. We both jumped down, I was panting from all the adrenaline.

"Dude, that was the scariest thing I've ever done." I admitted and laughed a bit.

"Pinky you faced off an ogre a couple of weeks ago." He said.

"I'll take the ogre thank you very much, I hate talking to humans. Even if they seem friendly like that one."

"You my little sister are the bravest turtle I know" he said and nudged me.

"What for talking to a human?"

"Exactly as a brave knight you faced the dragon so I the beautiful princes could escape, you earned yourself a shell ride!" he pulled me on his back. I laughed.

"You a princess? Are there even ninja princesses?" I asked.

"Sure there is, err …. Oh Xena, I am the warrior princes ! hililhihilh yeaaaaaah !" he declared and while jogging with me on his back he shouted her battle cry. Silly ass, he always could make me laugh.

"So I guess we are going topside tomorrow then?" he asked after a while.

"Why you want to?"

"Well no not exactly, but we haven't found Donnie's stupid book yet so knowing you you'll want to go and look again as soon as possible."

"Only if you want, Mikey." I leaned over and blinked a couple of times.

"I taught you too well, Pinky, but those eyes away I said I'll go already" I giggled and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you big brother." I smiled.


	20. Busted

**The little turtle.**

_There are two types of evil people in this world, those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and do nothing about it._

20) Busted.

"Where the shell are they?!" I hear Leo say for the twentieth time while pacing around in the living room.

"Leo, calm down Raph and Mikey will be back soon enough. They have another six minutes before they're supposed to be back." to be honest I was getting worried too, they said they would be back in five minutes but after a half an hour they still were missing.

"Maybe I should go and look for them." Leo said and stopped pacing for the first time in ten minutes.

"And look where? Besides master Splinter is out too, if they are in trouble he will help them." I reasoned.

"We really need something to help locate each other, I'm going crazy here, what if something has happened?! What if they need my help?" Leo freaked again.

I jumped from my place and took his hands in mine, I'm sure if he had any hair he would have pulled it out.

"Big brother, calm down, father is looking for them, he'll bring them back. Just stay calm there is nothing you can do right now. Relax you're not helping them by panicking like this, we're all worried."

He seemed to listen to me, and breathed in and out for a few minutes.

"You're right, I have to clear my mind." Leo said and sat down. In his defense despite his constant eying the door he did try to meditate, at least he stopped pacing.

Then after another thirty minutes master Splinter and two defeated turtles entered.

"You are to go to your rooms and not come out before I have thought of a fitting punishment for you." Master Splinter yelled, Leo let the breath he was holding go before joining master Splinter in the dojo.

Apparently they had found some skateboards and were practicing in some abandoned sewer pipes. It was dangerous territory though and Mikey had almost broken his neck if Raph hadn't caught his hand before he tumbled down.

How did they even find skateboards? That isn't something kids usually threw away, then again spoiled brats these days …

Mikey and Raph were forbidden to go out for a while, so I had to go out alone and search for the book. Donnie couldn't go obviously, it was a surprise for him and Leo spend most his time training, meditating and resting.

So I went alone, I kept a careful eye out now. I had to hide a couple of times, apparently that friendly old guy visited this place often too. Maybe I should take him up on his offer to search his home for the book.

Something told me that this guy was a friendly human, but I just couldn't risk it.

The third day I watched him search around again, when there was some commotion in the homeless camp. It were the guys with the purple tattoos again, how did the old guy call them? Purple dragons, master Splinter sometimes told us stories of ancient proud dragons that roamed the earth. These goons did those creatures no justice, they didn't deserve it in my eyes to call themselves dragons.

I was far away not to get into trouble with them, but better make sure and get into the sewers before things escalated, my hearth went out for the poor souls in the camp that were being bullied by punks with too much time on their hands. But it wasn't any of my business, I couldn't win anyway, there were too many of them.

I was about to walk away when the old man was being chased by two guys on motor cycles in the part of the junkyard I was hiding.

"No please, I don't have anything!" the old one cried.

"Too bad grandpa, you'll just have to be entertainment for tonight." The guy with the green Mohawk mocked and revved his cycle. They made me so angry, it was without honor to pick on those weaker than you.

"Yeah, keep running old man, we'll chase you down, hunting is one of my favorite sports" the guy in the leather jacket said.

I had to make a decision, help the man or wait for the opportune moment and run. I didn't have any weapons, I couldn't outrun their motor cycles. But the old man was defenseless and I would feel responsible if anything should happen to him if I could have prevented it.

The two guys had their backs turned to me and were harassing the friendly man. If I could just take out their bikes and get that man to escape, everything should be fine. I spotted a long iron chain and I sneaked down.

The old man saw me of course but I motioned for him to stay quiet while I tried to sabotage their bikes. The two dragons were too busy revving their motorcycles to notice anything else. Trying not to knock anything over while I made my way behind them, it was almost too easy even if I crashed into a refrigerator and set it on fire they wouldn't have noticed it with all the noise they were making.

I squatted behind them and twisted the chain between the spikes of the hind wheels of their motorcycles. I hope this would be enough to stop them. I nodded to the old man, who tried not to get me noticed and ran back to my hiding place. The man deciding it was now or never took a run for it.

"Let the chase begin." the green Mohawk laughed.

"I'll get him first" The leather jacket challenged.

"Yer so on" they both took off at the same time. And thereby crashed at the same time too, they were thrown off their bikes as soon as they let go of the clutch. The wheels got blocked and the bikes seemed to take off into the air. They were pretty badly injured, I guessed from the angle of the Mohawks leg it had to be broken. I couldn't let myself feel guilty, they would have done worse to their victim.

I still felt good about myself, the old man had gotten away safely. And the goons would think twice before messing around with other people again. Well I hoped they would.

I didn't dare say what I had done to the others, I feared that they would be too angry at me. Ninja aren't supposed to come out of the shadows, we aren't supposed to help strangers. But it went against my honor to do nothing, that's the only reason I acted. Leo and master Splinter noticed that there was something different about my behavior, I always was a bad liar and I felt kinda guilty that I did but it is best for everyone.

Leo would worry too much, master Splinter would be angry and Mikey well I don't know what he would think about the matter, nobody can really predict how is mind is going to react. Raph well, he's into one of his I'm-ignoring-all-of-you-kinda moods lately so I doubt he'd care. Donnie well …

Donnie was too busy tinkering with a new device he found to really have an opinion about anything, I was a little curios as to what he was working on. He found a little new machine that he was fixing up but I hadn't seen it before, with the passion and the hours he put into preparing that little thing it had to be something important though.


	21. Bookworm

**The little turtle.**

_Life is not a science, it's an art._

21) Bookworm.

"What do you call these things again?" Raph asked when he critically observed the little device Donnie had given to each of us.

"A cellphone Raph" Donnie explained. "You know like how you see on tv sometimes? That way when one of us is in trouble we can call for help."

"A cellphone, cool." Mikey admired his.

"Well, it isn't exactly a cellphone, I modified it a bit, I guess it's more like a walkie-talkie but with the same reach as a cellphone but without having to pay for it."

"Cool Shellphones" Mikey joked and laughed a bit at his own joke while the rest of us just sighed.

"Donatello you are truly magnificent, I thank you for these devices."

"Thank you master Splinter, I just thought that it would help calm Leo a little whenever one of us needs to go to the surface without him."

"Yeah, actually it would. Thanks bro." Leo smiled and patted him on his back

"No prob."

I turned mine over, the little pattern on the back kinda reminded me of their shells. Cool, my brother is a genius… well I kinda knew that already

"Can I go out master Splinter?" I asked.

"Of course my child, be back by six for your training."

I bowed, "yes master."

"Boys time for your training" he commanded and they followed him to the dojo, I caught Mikey wishing me luck. I was going out again, with new determination to search for the book that my brother longed for. I wanted to give him something in return, I placed my cell in my pocket.

But after another afternoon of searching the place I still hadn't found anything that even resembled what I was searching for.

Three weeks, three weeks and still I hadn't found the book. I guess it's not something just anyone had lying around, let alone throw away.

I heard a noise, someone was coming, damn. I hid myself and waited until that person passed, it was just one of the people working at the junkyard.

"Hey you!" I heard someone yell in the distance, I looked around and saw that while I had hidden myself from the view of the employee I completely forgotten about the homeless village behind me, the old friendly guy had spotted me and made his way towards me. oh great job Theng Sjen, I was about to take off.

"No please don't run!" he yelled, "I just want to thank you!" he got closer, I didn't run but backed away from him. Something told me that he didn't want to hurt me, but he is a human so best not to take any chances.

"Don't worry, I don't mean you any harm" he held his hands out and reassured me that I had nothing to fear from him, yeah right.

I continued to stare at him, my silence seemed to make him uncomfortable.

"Well, I just wanted to thank you, you probably saved my life with what you did the other day." I nodded, I looked around, I let him make his thanks I should get going now.

"No don't leave yet, you're still searching for the book right?" that got my attention, I nodded again.

"The book about computers?" he clarified. I nodded again.

"I have something lying around in my tent, if you come with me I'll give it to you." he said, that had my senses on high alert again, STRANGER DANGER, no way was I going to walk inside that human camp.

"I can't" I said quietly.

"Why not? I'm a professor you see … well used to be actually, so I have a plenty of books …"

"… no I mean, I can't go in there." I said and gestured to the human infested part of the junkyard.

"Oh, oh!" he came to the realization that I was not that trusting, he seemed to understand and smiled friendly at me" no problem, wait here I'll go get them for you." he said and hurried off, I felt kinda bad for letting the old man run around, but there was simply no way I was going in there. It was scary enough talking to one, let alone being surrounded by a dozen of them.

I didn't have to wait long, he came running back with a couple of books just five minutes later.

"Here you go." and excitedly he pushed them in my arms, they looked pretty new. I opened them, there was a whole lot of stuff that I didn't understand, so it must be the right one.

"Wow are you sure that I can have these?" I asked, as I studied them.

"Of course you can, I'm happy to help you out any way I can, I'm forever in your dept. If you ever need anything you need only ask and I'll try my hardest to assist you." he proclaimed.

"Thank you, but you don't really need to do that." now I kinda felt bad about not trusting him.

"You saved my life little one, I owe you." he said and smiled.

"We're even now." I said and laughed as I hugged the books to my chest. "Thank you" I looked at my watch and saw that it was about time to go. "I really have to go now." I said.

"Wait, we haven't been properly introduced, my name is Lucifer, Ian Lucifer but everyone calls me professor" he held out his hand. Reluctantly I shook it, it would be rude not to after accepting his gift.

"Theng Sjen, but my brothers call me Thanny" I said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Thanny, I hope we run into each other again" he said, no offense but I hope not, I thought.

"I really have to go now" I said and ran off as quickly as I could, I waited until the coast was clear to sneak into the sewers, I'm so happy ! I can finally give my brother this, with this I could help him.

"Donnie, Donnie!" I yelled when I entered the lair.

"What's up little turtle" he answered, he was already working on something new. "Don't tell me you broke the cell already?" he laughed.

"No, of course not, I have something for you" I said proudly. And handed him the books, he looked confused for a bit but when he opened them and started to read his eyes started to twinkle and a huge smile broke on his face.

This moment right now, I will remember forever.

"No way" he said astounded and jumped up, his eyes burned to the pages of the book he was holding already memorizing everything that was written. "No way" he yelled louder and did a little dance of joy. He picked me up and twirled me around, the others came to see what all the excitement was about.

"Hey, what's going on?" Mikey asked.

"Look what Thanny got me!" he hopped over to them and showed off his gift.

"Wow, Don that's … a lot of science" Raph said when he tried to read the book.

"It's a Physics book explaining all kinds of tech, now I can finally work on that computer and learn all kinds of stuff!" he was hopping around now out of pure happiness.

I saw Mikey wink at me, Leo grabbed the other books and studied it.

"Wow, they even are in very good condition, were did you find them?" Leo asked. Uh oh.

"Well I … in the junkyard" I answered, technically it wasn't a lie … who am I kidding yes it is.

"Don't lie Theng Sjen." Leo said in a stern voice, double uh oh, he called me by my full name, never a good sign.

"I … well … it's kinda …" they will be so mad at me, talking to humans is a strict no no, plus then I have to tell them that I helped the professor before … oh shell.

"Theng Sjen." Leo stepped closer.

"Dude, you're right, not even one ripped page." Mikey said, I threw him an angry look which made him shut up immediately, come on I thought you were on my side. Donnie has stopped his frolicking and took his book back from Raph to see for himself.

"It's not something you've found is it?" Donnie asked, I lowered my head in shame and shook my head.

"Damn it Theng Sjen, have you forgotten everything that master Splinter has taught us?" Leo yelled. I wish I thought this through better. I saw the disappointment in their eyes.

"What is going on here?" Master Splinter entered the room.

"We think Theng Sjen has stolen these master Splinter." Leo explained and handed the books to our father. Wait a second … stolen? They think I steal? … well the evidence does speak for itself … kinda, but still we were taught that stealing is without honor and we only do it when we are in desperate need of food.

"Theng Sjen explain yourself." Master Splinter commanded.

"I didn't steal them." I said and looked him straight in the eye, master Splinter stared right back.

"I believe you, my daughter but how did you get them, you must admit that this is a rather exquisite find to do at a junkyard."

"I didn't really find it, someone gave it to me" I admitted. That got their attention.

"And just why would a stinky human give a fancy shmancy science book like that to you?" Raph asked.

"A couple of months ago Mikey and I were searching there too and he and a friend of him were near so in order to get away I came out and distracted them so Mikey could escape and while doing so I might have mentioned that I was looking for a book about computers." Leo glared at Mikey.

"You used your sister as a distraction to get away?!" he accused.

"No dude, it was not like that … well actually it kinda is but … I was there the whole time if something … NOTHING happened … it was her idea." He pointed at me … real mature Mikey.

"Please don't blame Mikey for that Leo, we didn't have any other choice, we had no way to go and they were coming closer." Mikey nodded along with my explanation.

"You should have been paying more attention." Leo said and crossed his arms.

"I still don't get why he gave those to you or why he has them in the first place." Raph said.

"Well he was a professor so he had all these books lying around." Please let that be enough, please believe me.

"So he just thought I'll give them away? Homeless people need money, Theng Sjen why would he just give them to you while he could get some real good money out of them?" Donnie asked.

"He kinda felt like he had to …"

"Because …" Raph stressed.

" …I kinda … saved his life from two purple dragons a week ago" I admitted I closed my eyes and waited for their outburst.

"You what?!" the four of them yelled.

"You never told me that?!" Mikey accused, "you always tell me everything!"

"Sorry" I whispered.

"Why would you do that? After last time, you barely escaped with your life and now you decide to take on two? We are ninja, Theng Sjen not vigilantes." Leo got angry again. Great, Leader-mode Leo is the worst enemy you can have.

"They didn't see me, I just sabotaged their bikes, what else was I going to do? They were going to hunt the professor around for sports. They didn't see me, it didn't feel right, I couldn't just walk away, that would be like having his death on my conscience." They grew silent after that, I turned to master Splinter who hadn't said a word during this whole ordeal.

"I'm sorry master Splinter, if I've disgraced you somehow, I realize that I put myself in danger but I had to do something. Earlier today I made a mistake while hiding and accidentally revealed myself to the professor, he felt like he owed me and gave me the books. I just wanted to help, master, I'm really sorry if I've done something wrong while doing so."

I heard him sigh.

"Theng Sjen, though I am not happy to hear that you have placed yourself directly in face of danger to save the human. I can understand that it went against your honor to ignore the matter at hand, you must understand though, that there are many ways to do the right thing. It could have turned out very differently that night, I hope you understand how lucky you are not to be discovered." I nodded and kept my head low.

"I am aware of the fact that you above all of your brothers will have the most contact with humans, but I must advice you to be cautious, not all deserve your mercy, my child. But you are right to have followed your instincts a ninja should not do what goes against his or her honor, there is no need to apologize you have done no wrong by me."

"Thank you master Splinter" he patted my shoulder and stood.

"Ninja act from the shadows and that is what you've done, though I will advise you to be more cautious in the future my daughter, not all will be so easily defeated." I nodded "Very well, I expect you in the dojo in ten minutes"

"Yes master." And he went back to his meditation.

"So that means I get to keep them?" Donnie asked, he was happy again. Leo sighed.

"Yes Donnie, Thanny has gotten them in a honest way so you get to keep them." Leo still wasn't very happy with me, but I guess that's more to do with the fact that I again had gotten into trouble when he wasn't near.

"I'm sorry Thanny, I seem to have accused you wrongly" he said.

"No problem Leo"

"Dude, that's three that you've taken care of, if you keep this up you'll be a real superhero someday!" Mikey exclaimed, Leo didn't look very happy at that prospect.

"From now on, if anything, anything, goes wrong, you call me alright?" he said.

"Sure Leo" I doubt I'll get into one of those situations again, but then again that's what I thought after the first one too.

"By the way, that goes for all of you." he turned and pointed to my other siblings.

"Yes mom." Raph mocked and sat on the couch to watch some lame wrestling show.

"Sure Leo." Donnie said, I doubt he heard any of it, he was using all of his concentration to read the book. And Mikey was pestering Raph, he didn't have much concentration so he just ignored our oldest brother.

I pitied Leo a little, as the oldest and the leader he feels responsible for us. And we are not making it easy on him either.


	22. Size does NOT matter

First of all, how awesome is the new TMNT series?! I had my doubts about this newest incarnation but it proved me wrong and I am so glad it did!

Fan-girl moment over. Thank you reader for sticking with me and my lack of updates, I'm so sorry but again I promise to finish the story! It just might take a while. I'll really try to update sooner but ... no stupid excuses left ... no I'll really try to update sooner.

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><p><strong><span>The little turtle:<span>**

_In the darkest of times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the true meaning of inner strength. (Uncle Iroh - Avatar the last Airbender.)_

22) Size does not matter.

A month passed and Donnie had his first computer up and running, there were still a few bugs or something that he said needed to be worked out. I've searched around the machine plenty times but I never saw any kind of insect, but if my brother says they're in there, then they are!

Today was going to be a very special day, I was thirteen and finally at the required level for me to receive a weapon. I couldn't sleep last night, I wondered which one I was going to get. I wasn't that good with swords, I bumped my head plenty times with the nunchucks and even almost accidentally stabbed myself with the sais.

I was a bit disappointed in my skill with the weapons, all of my brothers had at least been good in handling something before they received their signature weapon. But I didn't have anything in particular I excelled in.

So when master Splinter announced several days ago that I was ready to have my own weapon, we all were quite shocked. Raph even laughed at me, joking about how you should be at least this tall to get into ninja-school. The others joined, can't really blame them no matter which weapon I try to wield it always seems strangely oversized for my stature.

It's true that I was smaller than the average … human … my age. I jumped quickly aside to avoid a wrestling Leo and Raph. I don't really know what has bitten him in the shell this time, most times he's alright, but sometimes he gets into this mood and if either me or Leo is near he'll find a way to take it out on us.

He's angry that Leo is leader and that he gets to tell him what to do and he's equally angry at me because I'm a human and can walk around without being laughed at. … yeah right, it's been a while since I've been to the little supermarket, because we've had a hard time saving enough money, but all the previous times I've went up there everyone had always cast me this dirty look, like they knew as well as I did that I didn't belong there.

I didn't care what they think of me, they've cast me out when I was a baby so I don't want anything to do with them. But it still hurts to be treated like that, I mean what have I done wrong to them? Humans are cruel and rude, and I hate it that technically I am one of them, but I like to think that even though my body is human in spirit I am a turtle.

I sat down for my daily meditation time with master Splinter. I rather prefer Donny's nickname for me, didn't care much for Pinky though, which was what Mikey liked to call me, it had something to do with my skin color when they found me.

Donnie said that my small stature was because I didn't get enough food when I was a baby and it somehow stunted my growth a little. Didn't quite understand the logic behind that but again if Donnie says it is so then I believe him.

Come on focus my mind is supposed to be empty, master Splinter gave me a little frown when he sensed that my thoughts had wandered off again. I tried better this time, wouldn't want him going back on his word to give me my weapon today. Ah here I go again, come on Thanny, inner peace, inner peace, inner peace … why is it so hard to think of nothing?

After another half an hour of trying, master Splinter decided to end my torment and called in the others he made us kneel like we did three years ago only I was the only one in the center and my brothers were now watching excitedly on the sidelines.

"Theng Sjen." I knew the drill, with a lot of butterflies frolicking around in my stomach I stepped forward and kneeled in front of my sensei. He went to the blade side of the rack, I didn't see exactly what he picked up, but it was small enough not to see what he was carrying until he got closer.

"I give you the manriki chain, you are the strongest this weapon will give you the opportunity to channel that strength, may it help you protect this family. Train well and make this weapon your own my daughter." I bowed when I got them and I shivered a little when the cool steel of the chain touched my skin.

"Thank you sensei." That's when the words sunk in, strongest? He thought I was strongest? That can't be right? If anyone should be named the strongest it should be … heck everyone is stronger than me! I looked behind me to see two brothers smile at me, Leo nodded and also smiled but Raph got me captured with a look that I could only describe as hatred. He never looked at me like that before.

I know he was angry because I got my weapons at an earlier age then he did and maybe because father indirectly called me stronger than him, but that look was beyond angry.

"We'll resume training now, Theng Sjen put your weapons away please, you'll be joining us." Master Splinter explained, that only made Raph fume even more. I bowed and placed my weapons quietly away as if any loud noises may tick him off even more.

We practiced some new moves and master Splinter tested us in the way of invisibility after that he taught it would be a good idea to do some sparring matches.

First it was Leo against Donnie, Leo won of course then it was me against Mikey, Mikey won. Mikey had to go again fighting Leo. Leo won again of course. Raph was practically vibrating right now, Don had tried asking him what was wrong but he didn't answer.

"Very good Leonardo, Michelangelo you have to mind your footwork." Sensei pointed out.

"Raphaël …" Raph all but jumped into the battle circle, ready to pounce on his opponent. "… against Theng Sjen." Master splinter decided, what? Did he really expect me to go up against him? I'm never going to leave this place alive. The only one who seemed glad with this turn of events was Raph himself, my other brothers looked worriedly at master Splinter but he kept his eyes on the sparring match.

Come on Theng Sjen, you can do this, be the water, be the water. I chanted, besides it is sort of me he is angry at, it would be unfair to redirect his anger on any of my other brothers. Raph won't seriously hurt me, he'll just want to prove that I'm not the strongest, maybe humiliate me a bit while doing so. Alright buddy, I'm not going to give in though, he wants to fight me because of something master Splinter said, fine let him.

He got this predatory glint in his eye as he cracked his neck in intimidation. What am I thinking? I got into battle stance and tried to concentrate on the battle at hand. Be like the water, be like the water, I chanted, this reminds me of the giant I fought in the alley a couple of years ago. Come on Theng Sjen you can do this, … no I can't I couldn't defeat Mikey, how am I going to go up alone to Raph.

Come on, just try your best, don't be a pushover. Raph eyed me with that same angry look he got before and smirked when he sensed my nervousness. You jerk, his whole alpha male attitude was starting to get to me. I deserve to stand here! I worked for years trying to catch up to them and now that I accomplished my goal I'm not going to let you ruin it for me!

"Begin" master Splinter commanded, as soon as he said that Raph charged. It was an obvious attack which I sidestepped easily, from our previous training together I knew some of Raph's attack patterns. Raph and I have sort of opposite battle strategies, because of his strength he prefers to attack straight on. I on the other hand have the advantage in being flexible and fast so I learned to focus on avoiding contact and striking when my opponent is open.

When one overcharged punch just barely missed my shoulder I used his momentum to trip him out of balance and flip out of the way before I could get crushed beneath his weight. I had the advantage that he was underestimating me and thus leaving himself more open.

That made him even angrier, upside his attacks weren't thought trough and were easy to predict, downside they were faster and more powerful so one mistake and I could get seriously hurt. I just barely managed to keep up pace with him. Eventually his attacks got slower and his breathing harder, I didn't know how long we had been fighting, but it didn't make sense to me, Raph was stronger than me and usually could hold out a lot longer in a fight. I meant to at least give him a hard time but he should have won by now.

His attacks were getting sloppier and I could have kicked him out on many occasions if I wanted to, but I had a problem with hurting my brothers even if the jerk was trying his damn hardest to hurt me. Instead I waited a moment longer until his defenses dropped enough for me to trip him again and pin him to the ground.

"Damn it, let me up!" he yelled as I held his arm behind his back, effectively blocking his movement.

"This match is over, Theng Sjen has won." Master Splinter declared, I couldn't believe it myself I took a step back and let Raph jump to his feet. Beyond fury he stared me down, he was slightly out of breath and tried his hardest to conceal that fact. His glare stunned me, I had seen him stare at Leo this way, I never had been on the receiving end of it. Kudos to Leo.

Kneel my children, sensei said and broke our second battle of the day.

"You have done well my children and each of you has shown great progress, we will resume training tomorrow, for now Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo you are dismissed." My three brothers threw us a glance before they left the dojo and were probably eavesdropping just behind the door.

"Raphaël you know why you have lost this match?" Sensei asked as he paced slightly in front of us.

"Yes, she's the strongest." he bit, it made me flinch.

"You do not agree with my reasoning, you do not think your sister possesses strength?" Master Splinter asked in that tone as if he knew something that we didn't.

"How can you say she is stronger? Look at her! Hell even Mikey is stronger than her!"

"Raphaël, you will show the proper respect to your sensei as to your fellow students!" Raph grew silent after that. "There are many kinds of strength my son, the one you are referring to means nothing in the world of ninja, as she has proven by defeating you." Master Splinter circled us "It is not physical strength I spoke about earlier, no depending on that factor alone you should be the considered indeed strongest. The strength I was referring to, was the inner strength."

"The reason I am telling this to the both of you is because I understand that it is only the two of you that did not believe me. Theng Sjen, you have a strength inside of you that allows you to clear your mind in the toughest of times and this brings you wisdom beyond your age. As you have noticed on more than one occasion, you can defeat opponents quite larger than you in size. Though in this previous match it was not so much the inner strength you possessed that allowed you victory, but the blindness of your brother caused by his anger." Raph fumed but remained quiet as master Splinter kneeled in front of him.

"My son, you have much anger inside of you, though it may feel good to let it out on the person you think responsible as you've noticed it will consume you and become your greatest enemy. You have to practice more control over yourself, if you wish to become a better ninja."

"Yes master." He bit and bowed not so much out of respect but because he knew he'd get a cane to the head otherwise.

"Good, Theng Sjen congratulations on your victory when you've mastered your weapons you will be allowed to join your siblings completely in their training." Somehow I thought this moment would bring me more joy.

I heard someone highfiving just outside the room. Guess master Splinter heard it too, he smiled and shook his head.

"You are dismissed." Raph got up and pushed his way through the others to his room, guess it will be a while until he can get over the fact that he lost a match against me.

Mikey jumped me and twirled me around.

"Have I told you that you are the most awesome little sister ever?!" he exclaimed while making me nauseous.

"No not yet Mikey." I giggled.

"Well you totally are, Pinky!" thankfully he stopped to pass me onto Donnie.

"Good job little ninja" Leo said as he messed up my hair out of its ponytail, while Donnie was hugging me.

"Can't believe you beat Raph, his ego needed a little bruising" Mikey said.

"Hey, don't say that, in a fair fight he'll totally kick my ass." I said for Raph's sake, I didn't need him more pissed at me then he already was.

"Little turtle that was a fair fight, you can enjoy beating him alright, we sure do." Donnie said. I looked a little angry at them.

"Alright, alright, come one show us your super awesome weapons, Pinky." Mikey asked, I nodded and went to retrieve them.

I didn't practice that much with the chain in the past, so I don't really know why master Splinter chose it for me. But I could not wait to train with it.

"That's so awesome, don't worry you'll master these in no time and then you can join our training everyday and continue to beat the shell out of Raph!"

Thankfully Leo hit him on the head for that one.

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><p>Thank you to all who reviewed and faved my story! It really means a lot to me.<p> 


	23. Battle

**The little turtle.**

_Sometimes it's easier to be mad at the people we trust because you know they will love you no matter what. (Sisterhood of the traveling pants.)  
><em>

23) Battle.

Things with Raph didn't go well, he just got angrier and angrier and exploded at everyone who dared to come to close. I heard Leo talk to master Splinter about it, he said something along the lines of that he had to figure it out himself, we couldn't do anything to help him.

It really bugged me that my brother was suffering and I didn't have a clue how to help him. It made me angry in turn. It was all the fault of those damn daylight dwellers, Raph had a couple of close calls with humans and apparently they didn't react all too … appropriate to his appearance. Even though he puts on a very though act, Raph is actually a very sensitive guy.

Raph was out with Donnie, Donnie was the only one who Raph seemed to tolerate lately. They were gone to find some new equipment for the lair, apparently the hardware store had thrown out some very useful machines that just needed Donnie's magical touch. Raph helped carry them, in return Donnie thought Raph about the workings of cars and motorcycles and all that magic I know absolutely nothing about.

I was training with my weapons, I didn't know if I'll ever get the hang of these. You have to train hard until your weapons become an extension of your body. What did that mean anyway? I was STILL stuck with the basics, another reason I was so frustrated lately. If that stupid weight crashes into my head one more time … !

Master Splinter had told me to twist the chain around my arm instead of keeping the weapon strapped to my belt like my brothers did, he said it would prove as an added defense on my arms and I could also adjust the length of the chain without the other end getting in my way.

Easier said than done, the first couple of times I tried the chain just unraveled completely from my arm and I almost hit master Splinter while aiming for the target, it was just so many things you had to do at the same time.

So master Splinter first had me practicing handling the chain, I felt ashamed that he had to slow down his training for me. I wanted to join my brothers as soon as possible after all. As if all of that wasn't hard enough I had to practice with kunai knives too, manriki chain's are used for long ranged attacks so should an enemy get closer I had to wield him off too. I didn't really like that, I knew for a fact that when you've really mastered a weapon you can use it anyway you want. I was sure that with some creative thinking the chain could also be used in close combat. It was more advanced sure, but to use a kunai instead sort of felt like cheating to me.

I was more familiar with the kunai blade, we all trained with them in ninja class 101. But I would do whatever master Splinter told me to do.

"Keep practicing this my daughter, until it comes natural to you" Master Splinter had to go outside for a while to search for more supplies he said, but in truth I think he's going to look for Raph and Donnie, they're gone longer than usual. I just kept practicing, lengthening and shortening my chain by winding and rewinding it around my arm.

Master Splinter showed me once how he handled it, I was amazed. I didn't even see the chain, I just heard the scary sound the metal made when it swooshed through the air at an high speed. I know the reason master Splinter had trained us, to protect ourselves and each other. Our weapons are supposed to help us with that, but I didn't know if I could hurt a human with this weapon, even if it was attacking me.

But in a way master Splinter had chosen this weapon for me, he knew me enough that I would be uncomfortable handling a weapon like Raph or Leo's. The katana and sai were meant for attacking, even Mikey's nunchaku who seemed harmless at first, but the way he handled them … no my weapon was more suited for disarming and keeping an enemy at a distance, for which I was grateful.

Of course I could so some serious damage with them, if a person would be hit head on with the weights on the end of the chain … well at full speed … not a pretty picture.

Master Splinter said that he admired my respect for weapons, but I shouldn't shy away from them. In essence everything can be used as a weapon, he had said, the objects he had chosen for us were simply more effective to use for such purposes.

Still I was determent to practice with this until I completely got the hang of it, wouldn't want to hit any of my brothers by accident.

Suddenly I heard some commotion in the livingroom, I recognized Leo's voice yelling for master Splinter. I ran outside to see what the ruckus was about.

"He's not here Leo, what is wrong?" I said, Leo stood in the middle of the livingroom with his entire gear on and a shellcell in his hand.

"Raph and Donnie are in trouble, there was a robbery in the hardware store and they got caught in the crossfire!" Leo said a little panicked.

"We have to go get them!" Mikey yelled and strapped the two nunchucks on his belt, he had heard the commotion and was now too ready to pounce on whatever enemy is threatening our family.

"Mikey you come with me, Thanny you stay here and inform master Splinter when he comes back!" Leo yelled.

"Wait I can help!" I said to Leo, who was now in full leader mode.

"Stay here Theng Sjen!" he ordered and the two of them took off.

I glared at the door, a deep nagging feeling tugged at my heart. My brothers are in trouble and I am ordered to stay here? Didn't think so, I pulled the green ninja mask, which I usually kept in a headband, over my eyes. I quickly wrote a message to master Splinter, that way I didn't completely disobey Leo's orders. I saw the manriki chain and carefully twisted it around my arm. I would use this weapon if my brother's life depended on it. With new determination I ran outside.

The manhole wasn't even covered up, good for me means less time being wasted. I knew the hardware store was a couple blocks away, but there were still people running on the street. I couldn't just run over the side walk, it would draw even more attention to the fight. No can't go down the streets, can't go through the sewers either, this is the safest entrance closest to where I have to be. Guess my only way is up, I heard my brothers brag sometimes how they jumped over the rooftops, this is my first time but it is the safest way to get there undetected.

It probably took me longer then it would my brothers but I got there eventually. I could see them fighting a bunch of the guys with the purple tattoo's, my brothers were obviously winning. Almost half of the guys were knocked out and the rest was getting there. I could only see three of my brothers fighting though. I panicked for a couple of seconds before spotting my purple banded sibling hiding behind a dumpster. Donnie must have gotten hurt, bastards, no one hurts my brother ! I tightened the green bandana on my head.

Rage almost blinded me, then I spotted a couple of guys reaching for their guns. I quickly jumped down and without thinking I hurled my chain towards them. My goal was to knock the guns out of their hands before they fired, well I did hit the first gun, I altered the course of my chain a bit and managed to strike the hand of the second one. The chain bounced of the guy's hand and the weight crashed into the last one's head. I had prevented the goons from shooting, not as gracefully as I hoped but at least I got the job done.

A second everything just stopped, both sides were watching me with surprised eyes. The goons because they now had a new adversary, my brothers because they had to yell at me later.

Then the second passed and all hell broke loose again, I was now at a disadvantage. My brothers had formed a line around Donnie and were defending that perfectly. I was situated in the middle of the battle field and thus was surrounded.

"What the hell do you think you are doing idiot?! Get the hell out of there!" I heard Raph yell.

"She's with the freaks get her!" a scrawny looking guy yelled and pointed at me, three guys rushed at me. Oh, crap! Alright stay calm Theng Sjen, you've faced opponents at a disadvantage before.

I jumped up and delivered a kick to the first one when he got close enough, I used my momentum and delivered another kick to the second goon, when I landed on the ground I twisted around and made my chain crash into anything on its path. I rounded it back around my arm to make it a little shorter and twisted the smaller end around in a menacing way.

The threatening swoosh of the chain seemed to make them a little hesitant to attack . I grinned at them. I may have shown off my acrobatics a bit, but I gotta intimidate these guys somehow. I understand why the badguys in movies have a tenancy to laugh maniacally; holding your own against bullies is kind of fun.

"What the hell are you waiting for it's just a little kid!" the scrawny guy yelled again from the sidelines, weakling, I thought. Blindly giving around orders. I grinned at them, bring it on, what a rush!

I didn't see the forth one coming from behind me, one minute I was holding my ground the second said ground vanished momentarily from underneath my feet when I was kicked in the back.

I crashed down in a puddle with now four goons smirking above of me. Ah damn! Stupid mistake I was too focused on the battle, that I lost sight of my environment. The phrase pride before the fall came to mind.

"Get away from her!" I heard Raph yell. I heard some ruckus going on above me and when I looked back up I saw Raph standing protectively over me facing now three pissed off guys, looks like he knocked the other one out.

"Idiot, You okay ?" he asked not once breaking eye contact with the enemy.

"Yeah." I answered, the kick wasn't that hard, I only scraped my knees a bit with my landing. I stood up and got his back.

The first one who moved was a guy with a dragon on his face, he got his hand sliced open and a punch to the face, I could hear his nose crack. The two others attacked at the same time, I blocked a punch with my arm, the chain worked as a kind of armor and kicked the second one in his jewels, not very honorable either but I was outnumbered.

Raph then finished him off with a kick to the head and I knocked the other one out with some more well placed punches and kicks.

When I turned around the ground was littered with unconscious bodies, my brothers and I were the only ones standing … we'll aside from Donnie who was sitting down.

"Pinky that was awesome !" Mikey cheered and hugged me.

"No, that sure as hell was NOT awesome!" Leo countered, he strode over to me "You were told to wait in the lair!" he yelled, and stared very angry at me, I knew I disobeyed his order. I looked at my shoes, I didn't like it when one of my brothers was angry at me.

"Yell at her later will yah, give me a hand with Donnie." Raph said and wrapped one of Donnie's arms around his neck. "Up you go brainiac."

"Are you alright, Donnie?" I asked, he just grinned a bit at me and nodded. That means no. He had a wound on his head and it was bleeding fiercely.

"Get out of the way, we have to get him in the sewers undetected." Raph said and gave me a light shove.

I looked around and saw that one of the goons had a large leather vest on, and another one had a baseball cap. I gathered the two items and showed them to my brothers.

"Why don't we put these on and I'll help him into the closest manhole cover?" they just looked at me like I was crazy, but they soon realized that it was their only option. Donnie was in no condition to travel over the rooftops and he couldn't go on the streets without a disguise.

"Fine." Leo helped me get Donnie into the clothes and gave me specific orders as to where I was to bring him, like he expected me to abandon my brother in the middle of the street.

Luckily for us there weren't that many people on the street anymore and those that were had seen the fight and had ran in a different direction, cowards.

"Come on Donnie, just a little bit further." I encouraged him, he was wobbling more and more. I couldn't carry his entire weight but he was leaning on his bo staff for a great deal too.

"You see that sign over there, well when we reach that we're safe, come on just a little bit further." I panicked a little when a couple passed us but they didn't even look at us.

I reached the place where the rest was waiting. Raph and Leo took Donnie from me.

"Where is Mikey?" I asked.

"He's back to the lair, getting some stuff ready." Leo answered, "You go ahead and help him." He didn't even look at me.

I nodded and jumped in the sewers and ran to the lair. Mikey was frantically ripping clothes to pieces and searching for ice.

"Calm down, Mikey, here let me help you with that" I offered and sliced the fabric to pieces with my kunai.

"Hey, no matter what those two say, I think you did a great job, you really saved our shells." Mikey said.

"Thanks." I smiled and got on with my job.

"Donnie's gonna be okay." I heard him say as he threw open the closet in search for anything useful, I didn't know which one out of the two of us he was trying to reassure.

I just finished filling a bowl with cool water, when the rest of my brothers entered the lair.

"Just a little further Don, we're almost there, stay awake." Leo was talking to him.

"Let's put him on the couch." Raph spoke, Leo nodded and they ushered him towards us.

My brother groaned a bit when they put him down, his bleeding seemed to have stopped, but seeing how he swaggered and leaned on Leo and Raph he wasn't out of danger yet.

"Donnie you alright?" I asked.

"Does he look alright to you?" Raph yelled, I flinched a bit at his aggressive tone. Donnie's head didn't seem to enjoy Raph's loud noise either.

"Keep it down will you." Leo said, which caused Raph to glare me to death instead. I chose to ignore him for now, Don needed me more than Raph did, he could always yell at me later.

"Donnie." I whispered, "Donnie, hey, calm down big brother, everything will be fine." I spoke gently to him as I cleaned the wound on his head.

Leo was looking through Donnie's books in search of something to help us in this situation. We knew he had one or two medical books lying around, but they sure came in handy from time to time.

"Here we go." Leo was concentrating on something in the book, I didn't like the frown on his face. "Alright, Theng Sjen talk to Donnie, make him talk back, find out if he has any other symptoms than a headache ." I nodded.

"Raph, how exactly did he get that wound?" I heard Leo ask.

"Some wacko smashed him against the wall." I growled along with him, almost made me wish that I could go back topside and beat those guys all over again.

"Did he lose consciousness? Did he get back up on his feet?" Leo asked again.

"He wanted to but I made him sit the fight out." Alright, better get doing what Leo asked of me.

"Donnie, hey big brother, how are you feeling?" I asked, he looked at me, but it was weird as if he couldn't focus or something, he kept blinking as is he couldn't see me clearly. "Donnie, what is the matter? Come on talk." I tried.

"m' fine." he said, "just a headache." he closed his eyes again.

"What's the matter Donnie, do your eyes hurt?" I asked.

"Yeah, too much light, nothing serious." He said. Mikey handed me some bandages and I started to wrap it around the wound, the wound itself wasn't so bad as I feared. From the amount of blood that he lost I thought it would be a whole lot worse. Just a small wound on a big bump.

"Mikey, could you get the lights please, Donnie's eyes hurt." Mikey nodded and immediately switched the main light off. Leo got out some candles and lit them, so we could still see what we're doing.

"Anything else Donnie?" I asked when I placed a wet rag on his head, I remembered from when I was sick a cold rag on my head helped a bit against the pain.

"No, thanks little turtle." he whispered.

"Theng Sjen, what is his condition?" Leo asked.

"He says he only has a headache, his eyes hurt a bit but his wound is bleeding quite a lot." He nodded and kneeled besides our brother.

"Donatello, do you know who I am?" Leo asked. "What day is it today? How did you get your wound?" What the … ? Donnie's the smartest person I know, why is Leo asking him these stupid questions?

"Don't worry Leo, today is Thursday and I got my wound because I wasn't paying enough attention, I also don't feel nauseous and before you start shining that flashlight in my eyes I'm pretty sure my pupils aren't unequally dilated." Donnie explained, I saw Leo let go a breath only then he let go of the flashlight and smiled down at our brother.

"Don't scare me like that again, little brother." he said and carefully patted the uninjured side of his head. "Get some rest." With that Donnie closed his eyes and slept peacefully.

Then it seemed all eyes were directed at me, Mikey gave me a sympathetic glance as Leo and Raph were trying their very best to incinerate me where I stood. Leo motioned for me to follow him in the dojo.

I sighed and followed him inside as ordered.

"Do you want to explain to me why you disobeyed my order?" he looked very intimidating then, could be the boss of a crime syndicate even.

"I'm sorry Leo, but …"

"… no buts! Why didn't you listen to me?!" he yelled, I flinched back a bit at the tone he was using.

"I couldn't, Donnie was injured, I couldn't just do nothing!" I tried to reason with him, what would he have done if the roles were reversed?

"You were supposed to wait here for master Splinter! What if he came home and found it all abandoned?! Have you thought about that?"

"Yes, I left him a note explaining where we were and what happened." It grew silent after that, he seemed to need a moment to process all of this. I wanted to say something but I noticed him breathing heavily, which meant he was probably trying to think past the anger.

"You jumped in the middle of a fight, with a weapon you have not master yet, do you realize how stupid that was? Do you realize what could have happened if Raph hadn't gotten to you in time?! Because of your rash actions, you've almost gotten all of us killed!" that made me think for a minute, it had always been my greatest, most feared nightmare to cause harm to my family.

"But … they were going to shoot you! I saw them they had guns, they were going to … what would you have done in my place? If master Splinter had ordered you to stay behind, while the rest of us are in danger, could you so easily do nothing. I will do anything you want me to Leo, you can order me around and punish me all you want. But I will not be left behind while my family is in danger …" I straightened my back and faced him, a little bit sick of everyone giving me a hard time.

"… yes you will ! You are not just our sister Theng Sjen you are a ninja and if I say that you are left behind you are to obey that order! I am the leader of this team and while you are not even in it yet you will obey me! I have to protect everyone and I cannot do that when you make rash and dangerous decisions on your own. We had seen the guns, we were making measures to avoid the bullets, master Splinter trained us that way."

I kept silent, I felt guilty now for yelling at him, I know Leo has trouble with this responsibility that master Splinter bestowed on him. If something had happened tonight, if one of us was gone, he would blame himself for the rest of his life, as would I.

"I'm sorry Leo." The anger seemed to have vanished from his system too.

"Go to your room and think about what you have done, I shall speak with master Splinter about tonight's events and discuss how this will affect your training." Affect my … they can't do that?! I just have to … they can't take that from me.

I nodded and I went to my room without looking at anything else that the cold hard floor. I just laid on my bed and stared at the sealing, stupid … threatening my training. I felt a bit sad that everyone was mad at me and a bit angry too for the same reason. I wish I had a punching bag in my room like Raph. Damn I knew now why those two fought as much as they do, Leo sure knew which buttons to push.

I heard then the fight that was going on downstairs I didn't know if they were at it the hole time and I just didn't hear them or if they had just started yelling. But when I heard my name being mentioned I started paying attention.

"She didn't mean any harm! She probably saved our shells!" Mikey, I smiled a bit, as usual he was the only one on my side.

"No she didn't, she almost got herself killed or did you fail to see the four dragons ready to pounce on her." Leo, I almost whished he hadn't seen that.

"Like we were doing so hot, you had to save my shell what ten times?" he countered.

"The difference, shell fer brains is that you were supposed to be there, she wasn't." Raph said.

"Like you always listen to orders, at least when Thanny disobeys it's because she wants to help us out, not because she has a problem with authority." I didn't like that my brothers were fighting over me, but if I intervened it would only make things worse.

"That has nothing to do with this Mikey." Leo again.

"I know why you both are so angry and it has nothing to do with some stupid orders being disobeyed." Mikey yelled back.

"Oh yeah, and pray tell why, huh?" Raph yelled.

"You both aren't mad at Theng Sjen or at me for that matter, you're angry at yourselves. You because Donnie got hurt on your watch and Leo because he's got this delusion that everything that happens to us is his fault. You can't stay mad at her because some stinking humans got to Donnie, this was no one's fault so stop taking it out on our sister!" He yelled, I didn't know if he was wrong or not, Mikey had a way of pretending to be dumber than he really is and often sees things that we all missed.

"You know nothing!" Raph yelled/growled right back, "And just for the record she's a stinking human too!" it grew deadly silent after that, until all hell seemed to break lose. Something fell and broke and the sounds of fighting erupted from the living room.

"I hope for your sake she did not hear that, or Donnie won't be the only one who got his head busted!" I faintly heard Mikey yell, from the sound of it Leo was now restraining both parties, but I didn't pay any attention to that. My ears were fixated on a faint ticking, the sound grew somewhat menacing as it came closer. It was the sound of master Splinters walking stick, Father was coming home and we had some serious explaining to do.

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><p>Thank you Sesflynn, DJfire and dream lighting for reviewing!<p>

And everybody who faved and follows my story too ! Thank you guys!


	24. Aftermath

I am sort of pissed that no one has yet posted the new TMNT episode yet after almost 24 hours of airing plus being delayed for a whole week!

**T****he Little Turtle.**

****_A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place. (The killer inside of me)  
><em>

24) Aftermath.

Thirteen years ago, I was abandoned in the sewers, I don't have any memory from before my father found me. And truthfully I don't even want to know where I came from, they didn't want me, I don't want them.

I have a family, I have a father and four brothers. My father is a mutated rat and my brothers are four mutated turtles. They raised me, they are the world to me. Humans cast my family out, if they ever catch one of my brothers they will do very bad things to him and we most likely won't ever see him again.

_She's a stinking human too._

That's why my father trained each of us in the ways of ninjitsu, we are ninja. So we can defend ourselves and each other when we are attacked. Yesterday my brother Donatello was injured in a battle, humans had wounded him. My brothers went out to help, get our injured brother to safety, I wasn't allowed to come with them. I did and my brothers weren't that pleased with it.

_She's a stinking human too._

I honestly never considered myself a human, in my eyes humans were stupid, selfish creatures that loved destruction. I didn't believe every single one of them is evil, no … the professor was alright and I'm sure there are others somewhere that don't cast judgment so easily, but I'm still convinced the most part of them are the real monsters.

Raph. He's strong and fierce, but he has a soft side to him that he only shows on rare occasions, he cares a great deal for his brothers and even though he fights and argues with everyone, when one of us is in trouble no doubt in my mind he'll give everything he has and more to try and make things right. But lately Raph has been treating me differently, I try my best to get him to like me again like he did when we were little. I remember when we used to play, when he let me sleep in his bed, train with me, protect me … those times seem to be over.

You see there is one main reason that my brother has grown more bitter that he used to. He, more than the rest of us, has trouble with how we will never fit in, how in their eyes we will always be freaks. He has a deep hatred running towards humans, though he would most likely not turn his back on someone in need, he'll never truly trust a human. In that we were alike.

But now that I have discovered the reason that he hates me, the reason he is so angry all the time, is me, my very presence. He views me as a one of them and there is nothing Raph despises more than a human. I always thought it was my weakness his anger was directed at. I would have preferred that, it was one of the reasons that I pushed myself so hard during training.

_She's a stinking human too._

I wanted my brother to view me as an equal, but no … A human, I can't change that, I would if it was possible. I wished I fell into some radioactive ooze too. I can't hide that I am a stinking human, it is the one thing that I hate the most in the world; that I am the thing I despise the most. But I always comforted myself with the knowledge that even though I am a human on the outside I would forever be a turtle on the inside.

Raph doesn't seem look at me that way, he hates me, he hates me, I'm a stinking human, stinking human.

"Theng Sjen, can I enter please?" It was master Splinter who stood in front of my door. Oh come on you weakling, man yourself up will you! No more self pity, we have enough troubles around here without them knowing that I heard everything that has been said here last night.

"Of course father" I said, I looked at my clock, 7 am. Normally I would not rise until 7.15 . He entered, seeing the tired look in his eyes, I guess he got just as much sleep as I did. He sat next to me on my bed.

"Leonardo has told me what has happened last night." I nodded, of course he did. "He has told me that you disobeyed his order and put yourself at great risk, is this true?" he asked and looked me in the eye, with that penetrating gaze of his, he seemed to be looking right into my soul. God I hoped it only seemed that way.

"It is true that I leaped into battle master, I disobeyed Leo's order and I put myself at risk." I admitted, he nodded.

"And why did you do it, my daughter?" he asked without releasing the eye contact. I felt a small ray of happiness when he called me his daughter, it meant that he was not as angry as I had feared.

"I was afraid master, I heard that Donnie was hurt and I was angry and scared that I would lose him." I admitted.

"I know you only did what you thought was right, but you have to trust your brothers in their abilities. Leonardo left you behind because he wanted to protect you because he was aware of the fact that you have not yet mastered your weapon and are not as experienced in combat as they are."

"Also, he gave you the assignment to wait for me to return and inform me of what has occurred here. A note would have only aggravated my worries." I nodded again.

" I am sorry master, I won't disobey again." I whispered and looked down.

" You are forgiven, you have to know that I realize your intentions were noble, you love your brothers very much and it would hurt you deeply if something were to happen to them. Just know my daughter, that we care just as deeply about you and the thought of you hurt strikes fear in our hearts too."

"Thank you father" I said.

"I sense that there is something else troubling you, do you wish to talk about it?" he looked straight at me, it always shocked me how well he knew me.

"I … well … could we … talk about it later please?"

"Of course" he stood up and walked closer to me, he kissed me on the forehead. "I love you my daughter."

"I love you too father" I smiled.

"Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast. I think you and Leonardo should talk, now that you both have calmed down."

I followed him down, "I shall talk to him father." I said.

"Good." there was some tension that seemed to fall from his shoulders. I saw that Donnie was still sleeping on the couch, I think that when he fell asleep the others didn't dare move him, out of fear to wake him up.

Leo was already sitting on the table, he respectfully greeted master Splinter when he passed by. There was some tension in the air when he saw me right behind our father, but he smiled a little at me, I smiled back. He wasn't angry at me anymore, well that was one brother at least.

I fixed myself some cereal and when Raph entered the tension seemed to double. Leo looked between the two of us, I tried my best not to look at Raph while I felt his eyes burning holes into the back of my skull.

I quickly cleaned out my bowl and went to the living room, with the excuse of wanting to check on Donnie. He was still sleeping peacefully on the couch. I smiled at him, I was so glad he was going to be alright, just focus on that Theng Sjen.

"Good morning Pinky!" Mikey yelled cheerfully. I shushed him.

"Donnie is still sleeping." I said quietly, but the damage had already been done. He blinked his eyes a couple of times before opening them completely.

"Hey Don how are you feeling?" Mikey asked.

"Fantastic." he mumbled and pulled the blanket over his face, I had to smile a little at that. Injured or not he always had the most trouble waking up in the morning.

"Can I get you something Donnie?" I asked. It stayed quiet for a long time and I almost thought he fell back asleep.

"Water please." his muffled voice sounded from underneath the blanket. I nodded and went back into the kitchen to get it, almost bumping into Raph when I did so. My heart started beating in my throat and I quickly slipped around him, whispering an apology.

I sensed him standing there for a while, I felt is gaze on my back as I took a suspiciously long time filling the glass of water. Only when I was sure he left I turned around and gave Donnie his drink. I didn't like that, I didn't like having to walk on eggshells around my brother. I love my brother, I just wished I could make him not hate me anymore.

When I walked back into the living room Donnie was awake enough to notice something wasn't quite right. He didn't ask me about it, but I could tell by the way he eyed me before carefully downing his water.

"Anything else?" I asked. He nodded, he shifted back on the couch a bit and lifted the blanket in invitation. I knew that for some reason my brothers were colder than I was and that especially when they were sick they liked to huddle up to keep warm. I smiled at him and without hesitation crawled next to him on the couch. He covered the both of us with the blanket and almost immediately fell back asleep, hugging me close to him. I smiled when I noticed that it wasn't that cold under here at all.

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><p>Again thank you reviewers ! CadgetCid, Icecreampopstar, IAmTheDragonEmpress and dreamlightning. And of course all who faved and follows the story.<p>

Also thank you Abbyswancullen for giving me a deserved kick in the behind to get my lazy butt in gear ^^ !


	25. Breaking circles

**The Little Turtle.**

_It is empty in the valley of my heart, the sun it rises slowly as you walk away from all the fears and all the faults you've left behind. (The cave - Mumford and Sons)_

25) Breaking circles.

(Two days later)

Leo and I talked, he said I'm sorry, I said I'm sorry. We hugged, we kissed, we made up everything is back to normal. He'll be more considerate while giving his orders and I'll follow them, yep one big happy family …

I'm sure master Splinter has noticed that something is not sitting right, of course he knew, he practically predicted it would happen. Things between Raph and me got worse, I tried to avoid him as much as possible, I figured if I didn't step on his toes too much he'd at least things wouldn't escalate more than they already have. But he just saw that as a challenge, Raph didn't understand my strange behavior and wanted to get some reaction out of me so he made it kinda hard for me to avoid him if he's always following me around.

I didn't like this, I didn't like not being able to spend time with my brother, I wanted us to get along like we used to. I didn't know exactly at which point he started to hate me, but I was determent to change his view about me, I would be the easiest little sister I could possibly be.

"Hey little turtle" I flinched as Donnie called me by my nickname. He was still bedridden, at least until the end of the week master Splinter had said.

"Heya Donnie, can I get you something?" the couch was surrounded with all kinds of technology, because he wasn't permitted on his feet he had to channel his energy the only other way he knew … fixing and inventing things like crazy.

"Nah, thanks." He still had a huge bandage wrapped around his head, but the bleeding had long since stopped. He fought a lost battle against our father, explaining in all kind of medical terms that he was for all intents and purposes healed and it was unnecessary to keep him off his feet any longer. Well I tried that too when I was sick, I knew all too well that when master Splinter is concerned for our health he tends to be a little overprotective … well more so than usual.

"What are you working on now?" I asked as he was screwing a thingamagig to a machamacallit.

"I'm trying to fix this rooter I've found, thanks to your book I think I'm close to reviving it." he said proudly. He got the thing running months ago, but something about not getting access to the 'net'.

"Oh, great." he laughed, he knew that his technical knowledge far exceeded ours.

"Mister computer wizard at it again?" Mikey came up from behind me and hugged me. "You've got to be careful bro, before you know it you'll turn into an evil mastermind." I tried to picture that, Donnie in a white lab coat laughing maniacally while trying to revive a death corpse. I had to smile, Donnie is the most kind hearted person I know.

"You're so silly, Donnie couldn't hurt a fly." I swatted his arm of off me, Mikey had picked up on the hostile vibes between me and Raph and he knew something was making me sad. So he tried his hardest to get me to smile as much as he could. I love him for that, if not for Mikey I would be depressed and wallowing in self pity all day.

"Hey Don how about you put away the techno stuff for a while and play Mario with me and Thanny?" he asked, it seemed to peek his interest a little cause he actually looked at us, but his computer was more important so it was just Mikey and me racing against each other.

"I'm going to get you Pinky." Mikey threatened as his little toadstool car came close to gaining on my pink bathtub.

"Take this!" I said and blasted an oversized missile at him.

"Noooo ! Turtle down!" he yelled dramatically as his little car started spinning. Two more laps and I would be the winner.

"Hey keep it down will yah!" Raph yelled, "Some people are trying to train here!" he poked his head out of the dojo and seemed surprised that I had an equal part in interrupting his training session.

"Sorry." I mumbled and muted the television.

"Hey, don't take the fun out of it! Raph is just being a jerk as usual." and Mikey took the remote and turned the music back on even louder than before.

"Mikey." I complained and looked back and forth between my two brothers, whose side do I pick? Mikey who has always got my back or Raph who I am close to losing as a brother? Has it come to this? If I get into a fight with Raph now, everything will be ruined and over a stupid game of Mario. The both of them were looking at me waiting how I would react, what my decision would be, there was only one thing I could do.

"I have to go … do something." I said and ran outside. Coward, run away stupid human. It was the drop, that one angry look of Raph pointed at me, I lost it a little I guess. Why does he hate me? Why is he so angry at me all the time? I thought as I raced as fast as I could through the sewers, I took a right and almost slipped on the wet surface, I planned to come up near central park. I needed some air and space, I needed to think things through.

I don't know what to do anymore, I just don't know. I pushed off the lit and crawled outside, it was close to noon so there were a lot of people out. Upside most of the crooks were still sleeping there buzz off from the previous night. I decided to just wander for a bit, I didn't have to be home until 6 so I had 5 more hours to clear my mind. I finally decided to go inside the park.

I sat on the bench in a section were fewer people came. Stupid humans, why couldn't they just accept my brothers? Then there wouldn't be a reason for Raph to be so angry, he wouldn't direct his anger at me.

I pulled my knees against my chest and tried to perform some meditation, I heard my shell-phone go off. Mikey's name appeared on the little screen.

"Hey, sorry for running out on our game bro." I said as soon as I picked up. I tried to sound as cheerful as I could but I probably wasn't fooling him.

"No problem, sis." He said anyway. "You want me to join you? Where are you?" he asked.

"Nah it's fine, I'm in central park, I just going to get some fresh air for a while alright?"

"Sure whatever you say, Pinky. You know if you need to talk or something, you could always … you know talk to me." I could envision his sympathetic smile. Mikey was great at cheering us up but talking seriously wasn't one of his strong suits, I loved him for offering though. If Don hadn't been so injured or if I just hadn't been in a fight with Leo I would have asked for one of them to come up instead.

"Thanks Mikey, I appreciate it, but I'm fine really." I lied pathetically.

"Sure whatever you say, I have to train now but call if you need anything alright?"

"Alright, bye."

"Bye, I love you."

"Love you too." I said and closed the phone.

"Was that your brother?" I heard a voice speak next to me, I almost yelled out of surprise. Very ninja, Thanny.

"Oh professor." it was the homeless guy I met a year ago.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." he smiled, I made some room on the bench for him. He smiled and sat down.

"It's nothing."

"So was that your brother?" he asked again, " I do not mean to pry or anything." He defended himself as I threw him an awkward look.

"Yes, that was my brother." I admitted.

"Has he been able to find some use with those books?" he asked.

"Well this is another brother, but yeah Donnie is very happy." I shut my mouth almost immediately, what are you doing talking about your brothers to a human.

"Donnie, that's not a name you hear very often" the professor said.

"Yeah …" let it go, please let it go.

"Then again, neither is Theng Sjen." He smiled at me.

"I suppose."

"I do not mean to offend you, by any means." he quickly added when he noticed me tensing up.

"It's ok, I don't mind." I said, an awkward silence followed. I kinda welcomed the silence though, but I guess he didn't. It felt nice to be rude to someone for a change, does that make me a bad person? I couldn't care less if this human didn't like me.

"So would you wish to talk about what is bothering you?" he asked suddenly, what the … why does he even care?

"There is nothing bothering me!" I snapped, I liked this human but he doesn't need to push his limits with me.

"I'll accept that as a no then." he just continued smiling.

"Got that right." I crossed my arms again and looked the other way. Positive side to this human I can work my frustration out on him. Ah damn … is that what I'm doing? That isn't fair, he's only trying to help me … as far as I know.

"Look I'm sorry, I just got into sort of a fight with my brother and I'm a little sensitive about it." I admitted.

"Alright, no problem. So how did you want to solve this problem?" he said while watching some people playing on the grass.

"I'm solving it" I said.

"You're avoiding him" he stated.

"No I am not, I'm taking time too … I'm just …" yeah, what are you doing Theng Sjen? You just totally ran out of the sewers because you couldn't handle your own brother!

"I have a theory, you want to hear it?" he said.

"Sure?" he had that excited gleam in his eyes that Donnie sometimes got while talking about his machines.

"When one person is upset, he holds an amount of negative energy. If one cannot get rid of this energy, he will find a way to pass it on instead. So the negative energy will go to the next person and the next until someone finds a way to get rid of it. Until that happens the negative circle will just continue on and on." I thought about that for a moment.

"How would one get rid of this energy? … hypothetically speaking?" I asked carefully.

"Well the laws of physics state that energy cannot be made or destroyed, but it can be transformed into something else." He rambled on, I don't know that much about physics, I get a feeling that he and Donnie would really get along. But I do get his point.

"Turn negative energy into positive?" I asked, he nodded.

"Wouldn't the world be a better place if people were more prone to pass on positive energy? Instead we like to keep that kind for ourselves, while if we share that eventually we'll get an even greater amount back" he smiled.

"I think I know what you are talking about, but I don't know how it will help me with my problem." Basically he's saying that when you are angry you can take this anger out on other people, but that's already happened! Raph's already angry, I just don't know how to make it go away.

"Think about it, you are a smart kid, you'll figure it out. Nice talking to you Theng Sjen." he stood and tapped his head.

"Thank you professor, nice talking to you too." I said and watched him wave one last time at me and disappeared into the crowds.

How do I make the negative feelings Raph gave me go away? Professor is right, I am not solving my problem I am just storing everything up inside. Now how do I turn hate into something good?

It all came back to the same question, how do I make Raph not hate me anymore? But maybe I have to go back even further, why did he start getting angry? Because the humans do not accept him, is that it? Then he just cropped all of his emotions inside and subconsciously took them out on me? Because as much as I hate to admit it, I am technically a human.

But I cannot change how humans view him, I cannot change that. Agghh ! I'm stuck again, I don't know how to solve this.

I decided to walk around for a while, I watched the little human children play in the playground. The parents looked at me like I was filth, well I was a little dirty, living in the sewers will do that for yah.

"Heya little lady." An even dirtier looking guy appeared next to me. I ignored him and walked away. I pulled out the shell-phone to check the time "Whatcha got there?" he followed me. Stupid human, I had nothing to worry about he seemed about 4 years older than me but seriously I've taken down bigger. He was a scrawny looking teen who had too much time on his hands.

He grabbed my hand and twirled me around, alright buster! I am so not in the mood for this !

"That's a neat lookin cell." he said, oh damn it isn't even 3 O'clock and he's drunk already, I hate the smell of drunktards! What do they do bathe in the stuff while drinking it? Pathetic, I was about to twist his hand and frighten him a little when someone beat me to it.

"I suggest you get yer filthy hand of off my little sister before I put yer lights out punk!" a guy in a huge trench coat grabbed him by the scruff and lifted him just enough to let his feet dangle a little above the ground. Raph?

"Sure dude, no worries, I'm gone." Raph released the guy and he scurried off to somewhere and probably went to annoy some other poor soul. Raph continued to glare at him until he disappeared from sight, then he turned on me.

"What the hell were you waiting for?" Raph yelled, oh great.

"What do you mean?" I tried not to flee, I really did but I flinched a bit as I felt his anger radiate towards me again.

"Why didn't you … never mind." He stuffed his hands inside his pockets and stood there awkwardly. It would be hard for him here, surrounded by humans. There was a little audience looking at us too, guess we made kind of a scene.

"Come on let's get out of this crowd." he nodded and followed me to a nearby bench.

"So …" he started, his behavior was different it almost seemed as if he tried to tell me something.

"Why are you out here? I thought you hated … humans." I said, I tried not to flinch at that.

"Well, Mikey and Don sorta pounded some sense into me and I … well I … it's just … ah crap!" he caught his head in his hands as he sighed in defeat. Mikey and Donnie huh?

"Look Raph, I'm sorry I've been avoiding you lately and well I … I'll try to be better alright." I said he reacted to that quite strongly.

"No ! no that's not what I … oh come on !" he punched the bench, the wood cracked a bit, I flinched back again, he noticed. There followed an awkward silence "I don't like when you do that." he said when he calmed down.

"Do what?" he glared at me from underneath his hat.

"Yer scared of me." he sounded defeated. "And don't even try and tell me it's not true, cause I may not be a people person but I sure ain't stupid either."

"… well it's just … you get angry … a lot" I admitted.

"I ain't mad at you, I'd never … you know … punch you or something." he seemed very uncomfortable having this conversation with me, he kept looking around as if a way out would magically appear. Half of his being so uncomfortable could be because of the humans that were eying us. I suppose we did look like a strange pair.

"You are mad at me." I countered.

"No I'm not!" he yelled again.

" Come on, I'm not stupid either, Raph ! You don't talk to me anymore, you yell all the time and …" I remember what professor said about passing on the negative energy, I'm doing that now aren't I? I could see Raph's defenses rising again, well never get to the end of this, this way. "Why are you angry? I don't know what I've done to make you this angry Raph, just tell me and I'll try to change, really." I said a whole lot calmer.

"You don't have to change, I told you it's not you I'm angry at. It's them." he nodded to some random humans in the park, figured that already. "We can't ever belong with them, we always have to hide. And when we do try to help them they're afraid of us. It isn't fair."

"You know, I can't change that I am a stinking human, I hate it too" he flinched when I said that.

"Oh man, I wish you haven't heard that. I didn't mean what I said that night, I don't think you are a human, you know that. You're my little sis and you'll always be my little sis." I almost laughed at how awkwardly he said that last part, but was I ever glad he did.

"Why were you so angry?" my voice broke a little, "I thought you hated me, I …" he threw his arm around me and pulled me in a sideways hug. I turned my face in his coat, I didn't care it smelled like sewer, I had my brother back. I had Raphie back.

"Stupid, I may yell and stuff, but I won't ever hate you. It's just you scare me sometimes you know that?" it was impossible for me to imagine my big and strong brother Raph scared of anything, "I sorta lost it I guess. I was worried, you just jumped in the middle of a bunch of armed Purple Dragons." They are never going to let that one go are they?

"Sorry, but you guys scare me too you know? I want to help you, I don't want to be left behind."

"Guess we're both a couple of hot heads huh?" he smirked.

"Yeah guess so." I sniffed, "Raphie, I love you." he seemed uncomfortable again I almost laughed when he started to scratch his head as if he had hair.

"You too, little sis" he whispered quickly as he ruffled his hand through my hair. Guess he had enough of the mushy stuff. "Let's go home, you still have a lot of practicing to do before you can join us in training." He started walking off, I followed him.

"I'll be besides you guys sooner than you think" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah just look out you don't hit any of us with that erratic chain of yours." he joked, I punched him in the arm. It wouldn't have hurt him even if I had used my full strength.

"Raphie" he turned to look at me as we crossed the street. "Thank you" I smiled. He was at a loss of words again.

"Let's just go home, like you said I still have a lot of practicing to do" I said, he seemed fine with that and let me lead us home. At long last everything will be fine, we just had to talk about our problems, that was the solution. The circle was broken.

* * *

><p>FINALLY ! Someone took pity and posted the bloody episode, they only tested our patience for a week and two days !<p>

I can't believe all the reviews I've gotten!

Someone mentioned something about Theng Sjen's name being misspelled; this is true actually it is spelled as Tang Shen. When I started writing this story I DID look it up but I found it spelled like that I swear. So in my enthusiasm I didn't double check and just wrote away, until I gotten used to the way I wrote it so much that even after I found out for myself that I had been wrong! I just continued this way.

I already said it in a previous chapter, but not everyone always reads these thing (I sure as heck don't) But I Am SORRY, if the bothers anyone. I know it bothers the hell out of me when my name is being misspelled. But I'm gonna keep writing it like this, sorry.

Fun Fact: In the comic books Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman misspelled Michelangelo's name (Michealangelo)

So as hard as it is to believe : The Internet is NOT always right.

Again thank you reviewers: LittleBlackWolf, Kuma the wolf alchemist, GadgetCid, amaefury, wakkowarnerlover1, IAmTheDragonEmpress, dragon lightning, the anonymous Guest and Abbyswancullen.

Also everyone who favorited, follows and reads this story! Thank you!

The begin quote is from my absolute favorite never-get-tired-of-it-EVER song in the world The Cave from Mumford and Sons, check it out if you're into Indie-rock/ angry English folk music!


	26. Disco Dishes

**The Little Turtle.  
><strong>

_Medicine heals the body, Dance heals the soul.  
><em>

26) Disco Dishes.

It had been a stressful week for me, Donny injured, the fight with Leo and Raph and my lack of control over my weapon. As I walked out of yet another session of hopelessly colliding my chain against my head, I planned to go straight to bed with an icepack and try to sleep until someone needed me. But when I walked into the livingroom it wasn't the quiet, peaceful haven I hoped it to be.

That tune sounds so eerily familiar, It was the intro of some catchy, silly song that came out when I was little. Cool Mikey is doing the dishes again, I thought. He usually turned up his Ipod as loud as he could whenever he had a boring chore to do. I decided to help him a little but I stopped dead in my tracks, no way! My proverbial socks were blown off when I saw that it wasn't Mikey, but my eldest and usually most reserved brother who was singing and dancing to this song with the enthusiasm I believed only a five year old child was able to produce.

I have never even seen anyone, Mikey included, go loose like Leo was currently doing over Wannabe from the Spice Girls.

I had to laugh to when he got all sassy at the 'so tell me what you want' part, he was shaking his ass like his life depended on it. My giggle alerted him and he twirled around still in tune and singing along. I had to admit it seemed like a whole lot of fun, to hell with peace and quiet.

…**If you wanna get with me, better make it fast  
>Now don't go wasting my precious time<br>Get your act together we could be just fine…**

I laughed at his performance as he tried to get me to go along with him. He even threw me a towel, I just couldn't resist, I looked around to see if there was an audience but when I noticed that nobody was around I decided to just 'help him with the dishes'. He winked at me, alright that gave me all the excuse I needed, it clearly was a challenge and I have never backed down from a challenge. Besides I could use some quality time with Leo that didn't include him dropkicking me to the ground.

…**I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want  
>So tell me what you want, what you really, really want<br>I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha)  
>I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah<br>If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends  
>(Gotta get with my friends)<br>Make it last forever, friendship never ends  
>If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give<br>Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is…**

The only thing I remembered from my childhood spice girl addiction was the chorus of the song, we only had a crappy radio back than so the chance that the song came on was remotely small. So I was surprised that Leo was in fact able to sing the entire song along. But then again the only thing more fun that singing along, horribly off key I might add, with a silly song is singing along horribly to an 'unknown' song. Leo in turn laughed at my improvised lyrics. The pan he was currently scrubbing ritmically 'accidentally' slipped from his hands and send soapy dishwater water all over us.

…**Oh, what do you think about that  
>Now you know how I feel<br>Say, you can handle my love, are you for real  
>(Are you for real)<br>I won't be hasty, I'll give you a try  
>If you really bug me then I'll say goodbye…<strong>

He sung perfectly off key when I eyed him furiously. I just shrugged it off and decided that this was too much fun to stay angry at him. So I started the next chorus with him.

…**Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want  
>So tell me what you want, what you really, really want<br>I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha)  
>I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah…<strong>

Then he spun away dramatically and held the scrubber up like a makeshift microphone, sending soap and bubbles everywhere while doing so. And he started the rap part with a suspiciously rehearsed like dance.

…**So, here's a story from A to Z  
>You wanna get with me, you gotta listen carefully<br>We got Em in the place who likes it in your face  
>You got G like MC who likes it on a...<br>Easy V doesn't come for free, she's a real lady  
>And as for me, ha you'll see…<strong>

So when he held out his hand for me to take there I sighed, it was decided that everything within radius from us is to be considered the no shame zone. So I threw away the last shred of self control that I had, I grabbed hold of that dishtowel, made my own "microphone" and joined him in a silly-as-could-possibly-be dance.

He twirled me around a couple of times, I laughed when he started to pull some disco moves but followed his lead anyway.

…**Slam your body down and wind it all around  
>Slam your body down and wind it all around<br>Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha  
>Slam your body down and wind it all around<br>Slam your body down and zigazig ah  
>If you wanna be my lover…<strong>

And just like that the song ended and we were left mid-dance-move in silence with about half of the dishes still left to do.

"Nice moves." I laughed quickly, trying to avoid the really awkward silence that was going to follow.

"You too, nothing like the good old days to get you through boring chores." He said while rubbing some bubbles off of his shell, while wondering how they got there.

"You could have finished them much sooner without that song." I pointed out.

"Probably, still got to admit this way is way more fun!" he laughed.

"Couldn't agree more!" a third voice came from behind us. We turned around slowly and saw Mikey standing there with Donny's patched up video-camera. Oh God! I looked at Leo and broke down laughing when I saw that he was holding the pink bubbly scrubber like a katana blade.

"You know you are about half way through the dishes, it only makes sense that we'd be finished if we use the same song again." Mikey said as he closed the camera and set it on the counter, Leo and I looked up surprised at each other. In other words, Mikey was dissapointed he hasn't come up with this idea and wanted to redeem himself, he was supposed to be the 'fun-one' after all.

Mikey didn't really give us a choice, he put the Ipod on repeat and he pointed at me and sang along:

**YO! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I WANT, WHAT I REALLY, REALLY WANT ! **

I laughed at his antics and so did Leo, he got 2 dryer/backup vocals to help him with the dishes. After the spice girls followed;

- Ricky Martin with Livin' la vida loca; Which I was twisted dizzy from one brother to the other with what were supposed to be latin-ish dance moves

- MC Hammer – U can't touch this, By then the dishes where done and we spread our awesomeness to the livingroom;

-Britney Spears –Baby one more time, Donny joined us.

-Cher – Believe, I was suprised that glass didn't start breaking, like in movies with out high pitches squeals.

We went absolutely crazy with Sir Mix it a lot – Baby got back, sang waaaaayyy off key with Whitney Houston's – I will always love you my favorite must be the Backstreet Boys – Everybody where we all pulled out our 'best' ninja/ dance moves. I was delighted when Raph finally gave in and joined the little wanna-be breakdancer competition, which had evolved to an all out ninja-trick battle.

I got to admit Leo's 90's playlist only-play-while-vacuuming was kinda awesome. It was what I needed, we needed, all of the worries were gone. It was just me and my bro's being silly in our home. No stealth, no training, no fights . It was kinda liberating. Even if master Splinter went to sleep that night with a raging headache, he didn't have the heart to break us up.

* * *

><p>I originally wasn't going to put this chapter in, but as I reread the story I found that there were too much sad and dark moments so this one is supposed to prove that Thanny also has a lot of good memories with her brothers. I got the idea when me and my best friend got an accumulation of study anxiety and for some reason turned up the music and danced like idiots around the kitchen table. Thank GOD nobody else saw that ^^ !<p>

Again thank you reviewers! LittleBlackWolf, Abbyswancullen and IAmTheDragonEmpress also the anonymous Guest.

And of course everyone who faved and follows this story.

Muchos love !


	27. Ah The Good Old Days

**The Little Turtle.**

_To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. (Clara Ortega)_

27) Ah The Good Old Day's.

Things were great again,

Leo was training day in day out to become stronger, he was improving so rapidly none of us had any hope of keeping up with him. Much to master Splinters pleasure but of course his success worked greatly on Raph's nerves. Those two had always fought, ever since the day they could stand they have always been polar opposites. It didn't help though that the free spirited, proud and passionate Raph had to listen to his rival. As older brother and leader of our little clan, Leo's word was law … well in absence of master Splinter of course.

If you think Leo was working hard to improve his skills, you haven't met my other brother … Donnie. His skills aren't that much ninja-ish but that doesn't mean I don't find them any less amazing. On an intellectual level Donnie was light-years ahead of us. Once he finally had the computer hooked up to the internet, a world of information opened up to him and he sucked it all up like a sponge. He even hacked into the network of the university of New York and downloaded advanced courses of all kinda faculties. He was interested in everything; Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Math … I always knew he was a genius, but the phrase tip of the iceberg comes to mind. He started to create stuff now instead of just fixing things. One day I walked into his room and a dozen little robots were hopping around, Mikey said he was planning a revolution and that it was his secret underground rebellion.

The last couple of weeks though he is tinkering with a car he somehow managed to get into an old metro station, he was searching for a way of transportation. So we could travel fast and unnoticed through the sewers. From the amount of explosions I heard from there I'd say he isn't that close to figuring it out.

Along with his new trainee (Raph) he did managed to get an old bike working again. It was really weird at first seeing those two work together, Mikey said it was a like a weird cross-over (Hulk meets Dexter). But surprisingly they got along famously, Raph used to pick on him and Mikey the most cause and I quote _'They are the wimpy-est'_ . But now they had an understanding, Raph sto… lessened his teasing and Donnie taught him how to fix machines that make you go really fast. It was a fragile partnering at first, because Raph HATED being reprimanded on ANYTHING he does wrong and Donnie gets these tantrums when you mess up machinery of his. But turns out it worked out for the both of them. Now they talk! TALK! Like normal people about their problems. Mikey just shrugged it off and said that it was a guy-thing as if having a hundred pound machine in the room is therapeutic or something.

Hey if heavy machinery gets you to calm down who am I to complain? An after some crash courses (heavy on the crash), that master Splinter and Leo so far know nothing about, he and Donnie had finally figured out how to ride the damn thing. I wasn't allowed on it, they wouldn't even let me try. But Mikey and I had made a pinky swear that one day we would figure it out on our own.

One thing I was very glad about was that I was now a full ninja; I mastered my weapon enough to convince master Splinter to join my brothers in (real) training. Never in my whole life had I been so happy, this what I dreamed about when I was younger. Standing beside my brothers as an equal, I wasn't as strong as them, but master Splinter said that physical strength does not matter to a ninja. That earned a snort from Raph. But I am more flexible and much more stealthier that all of them combined!

Mikey had sort of stayed the same, for which I was happy. He was still the kind hearted, sweet, brother I knew. He had the amazing talent to cheer everyone up and in difficult times he always brought some relief. The others sometimes tease him, saying he isn't smart and all, but that's just an act. He's as smart as the rest of us, not counting Donnie, he just hides it for our sake. It's his secret plan, so when he does say something smart it sounds ten times better.

Master Splinter sort of stayed the same too, though I could swear he moved slower than he used to. When he wasn't sparring that is, he complained more about his old bones and he didn't always sleep well. He still had a lot of fight in him though I doubt that even when he's a hundred years old anyone could beat him.

Well I was so happy, but that never lasts does it? Well it so happens that our relative peaceful lives were about to be shaken up drastically.

My brothers had the habit to go on training runs, after much complaining master Splinter allowed them to go topside only during night times though. They were old enough and he realized that like any other teenager they would go and do it anyways. He couldn't keep them locked up forever in the safety of the sewers. Plus it would help keep them in shape and it let them practice with their stealth. Well that was their excuse.

I recently was allowed to join them, not because master Splinter forbid me, no my greatest opponents were Leo and Raph. They were polar opposites in every way and argued constantly, but when it came to me they had an agreement; I should be kept away from any possible danger. I swear, I'm trained as a ninja too and I even beat them a couple of times in sparring matches … well they say I cheated but I still stand by my point that tickling is a seriously underestimated ninja technique.

Mikey and Donnie usually took my side during arguments, saying that I didn't even ran as much risk as the rest of them (they were talking about me being biologically a human). But Leo had the last word as leader and kept me from joining them until I turned fifteen. This was the only time Raph was happy about Leo having any sort of power over us. I was allowed to go outside though during the day time, how much I loathed the idea I am human and I don't have to stick to the shadows per se, but being outside alone surrounded by thousand noisy, rude strangers OR running over rooftops with my brothers … be honest that really isn't a hard choice now is it?

Fortunately Leo came to the same conclusion as master Splinter did, if they weren't going to allow me I was going to sneak out on my own and I would run even greater risk. It was great, they even fought crime sometimes, we didn't seek to be protectors of the city but if we happened to come across a robbery we weren't going to turn the other way. I wasn't all that a fan of helping humans, but if I got a chance to kick some purple dragon butts I was game.

In fact we were returning home from a serious butt kicking, five against eleven seemed unfair but we went easy on them. I always enjoy it when they think I am an easy target, I like the stunned look on their faces as I punch them out. They sometimes joke about me being a female Raph when I knock out someone with a double spin kick wearing the smuggest grin on my face.

"Dude, that was awesome !" Mikey yelled and punched the air, he always got pretty excited after a fight. "Hey, did you see that guys face when Pinky did that dragon punch? Or when you twisted his knife out of his hand with your manriki chain?"

"You sound surprised." I huffed and tied my mask back as a headband.

"You should keep more attention to your surroundings, that one lucky punch could have knocked you out." Leo scolded, I rubbed my side where the stupid guy managed to strike me, damn I hoped they wouldn't notice that. But Leo considers these fights as training and is quick to reprimand any sloppiness immediately, gym teacher from hell.

"I know, I know, but come on you almost got sliced in the back by that one guy." I defended, yeah oh fearless leader, I saw that. He quickly looked away.

"I planned for that …" he mumbled, not fooling anyone bro I smirked "... Besides I have a shell you don't." oh come on how many times is he going to use that excuse.

"Keep telling yourself that bro." I was secretly angry at myself for not managing to avoid that blow too, no need to rub it in my face.

"You need me to look at that by the way?" Donnie asked and nodded towards my back.

"Nah thanks, I'll just put some ice on it when we get home." he nodded and seemed deep in thought. Who knew what went on in that master brain of his.

"Still think that we should have waited until their back up arrived, I was just warmed up for another round." Raph huffed and rotated his shoulder.

"We stopped their crime, tied them up, called the police and vanished." Leo said .

"All in a superhero's day work" Mikey boasted and took a heroic pose.

"For the last time Mikey we ain't superhero's!" Raph yelled.

"We totally are, we stop crime, secret cave, heck we even have masks to protect our identity." he made a hero-ish pose, there even seemed to be some light radiating off him.

"Technically we aren't human so we don't have an identity." Donnie stated.

"Who cares, superman is an alien and he has two!" I said. Mikey nodded along with my logic.

"Superman doesn't exist." Donnie stated.

"Blasphemy!" Mikey yelled outraged and started a heated discussion with Donnie to which Raph cracked his knuckles ready to break up the fight.

Suddenly Leo stopped death in his tracks. The rest of us froze immediately, we could heard rapid footsteps coming from ahead of us.

Leo gave the hand signal that meant hide. We immediately blended in the shadows like we were trained to do. I didn't like this one bit, humans were not allowed this close to our home. I took the little weight of the chain in my hand in preparation for our battle.

It remained silent for a while, but then a woman came rushing through the sewers followed by a handful humans dressed in black. They didn't seem friendly, armed with katana's and throwing stars they hunted the woman down.

"Ninja's in the sewers? Dude they're stealing our act" I heard Mikey complain.

"Shut it." Raph whispered and pounded him on the head.

"We gotta help her." Donnie said, he was hiding next to me.

"Wait until they are closer, we'll surprise them." Leo said and I heard him unsheathe his swords.

"Yeah, more action." Raph again, he just cracked his knuckles. The woman didn't make it much further though, a throwing star imbedded in her leg prevented her from going on and she splashed down in the sewer water.

Leo took off and spin-kicked the ninja who was about to strike her down. We were right behind him, Mikey ducked under Leo's leg and surprised the second wave of assailants.

"This is no way to treat a lady!" Mikey mocked and twirled his nunchuks.

"Don, Thanny check the woman, Mikey, Raph we'll handle them." Leo nodded to the black ninja's which were backing away slowly, they weren't expecting resistance. Good thing that the dark of the sewers hides their looks, it would be light enough to see that something was attacking them, but way too dark to guess that it were in fact huge ninja turtles doing so .

I wasn't happy that I couldn't have part of the fun but Donnie had to look at the wounds of the injured human that was still laying face down in the sewers and I had to make sure she didn't freak out too much should she wake up.

Donnie lifted her up carefully and laid her on a relatively clean spot, she had red hair and looked rather pale. She moaned a bit but didn't wake up. Donnie looked at her leg injury and hissed.

"This doesn't look very good" he said.

"Can't you just yank it out?" I offered.

"No, I fear it hit an artery, if I do she would start to bleed and I can't stop it here. We have to take her to the lair." he said, well there was a reason Donnie handled the injuries around here, I didn't even think of that. Hold the phone …

"What?!" I looked up to see if he could possibly be joking, but he had that serious doctor look on his face … a human in our home? No way! Leo and the others joined us shortly, I saw a bunch of knocked out wannabe ninja's laying further down the sewer and felt a glint of pride at my brothers.

"How's she doing?" Leo asked.

"Minor head wound, some bruises and one serious injury at her leg, I can't treat it here." Donnie looked up to Leo.

"What do yah mean? Just pull the damn thing out and lets go." Raph said, yeah listen to him.

"I can't she'll start bleeding and I can't stop it here, besides we can't leave her, those guys were after her for a reason." Donnie said, Leo seemed to be thinking this over, oh come on! A human in our home?

"Please Leo, can we keep her?" Mikey pleaded, I glared at him, traitor.

Then I heard her groan, she blinked a couple of times and stared right at Donnie. She blinked a couple more times, probably thinking he was a figment of her imagination. She looked around to find three more giant turtles and one little turtle glaring at her. I covered my ears when she screamed and passed out again.

"Whimp" I scoffed, I got a glare from Leo for that.

"You're right Donnie, we'll take her to the lair" Leo said, Donnie nodded and picked her up. Scream at my brothers will you? They just saved your life. I continued to yell at her in my head as we walked to our home.

Just you wait master Splinter won't even let her inside, just put her in a basket and drop her on someone's doorstep.

…

Not

"Lay her on the couch my son" he said when we entered the lair and Leo explained what had happened. Donnie carefully put the human down and ran towards his 'lab' to get some medical stuff.

"Leo could you give me a hand?" Leo nodded and came to his side. I checked the security camera's my genius brother put up to see if none of the strange black ninja had followed us. So far so good.

"Thanny!" I heard my oldest brother yell. I sighed and went to his side. I saw Raph glaring at the strange woman with the same resentment I felt, good at least someone with common sense here.

"Stay by her and try to calm her down if she wakes up." Leo ordered, he held the bloody shuriken in his hand as Don cleaned and bandaged the wound. It wasn't like I didn't feel sorry for her, I really did. Nobody deserves to be hunted down or to be hurt like this, but I just know how she's going to react to her rescuers and that is something I don't much tolerance for.

"I'll try." I said reluctantly, Leo seemed puzzled at my strange behavior but decided that he had more important things to do. He left to talk to Master Splinter about how to handle the situation from here on.

"You should cut her some slack." Donnie said while wrapping gauze around her leg.

"I'm keeping an eye on her aren't I?" I said and crossed my arms as I watched the woman on our couch, she had pretty orange/red hair, I'll give her that and her freckles were kinda cute too … but that's it!

"Just don't kick her butt if she screams again, you'd be scared too if you woke up injured in a strange place with weird looking creatures." He said , I smiled at him and decided to at least give the intruder a chance. My brother Donnie, he always was the most gentle and forgiving out of us. As long as they don't have a problem with her, I won't act, doesn't mean I'll stop calling her names in my head.

Mikey was humming along with his ipod, he didn't have the patience to wait for someone to wake up, I giggled when I saw him do the moonwalk. When I turned my gaze back to the unconscious woman I saw that she was stirring a bit, Don noticed too he stood up rather panicky.

"You try and explain things a bit to her first, that way the shock won't be as great." he whispered and vanished. I sighed, talk to a human, sure me and the professor communicated on a regular basis but that was different, I could always sneak away if it became too uncomfortable. This human was on our freakin couch!

She blinked a couple of times as she tried to remember where she had ended up and then started panicking when she did. Here goes nothing. Stay friendly … smile, I'm sure I must look horribly scary with this weird grin on my face.

"Calm down." I said, she yelped a bit and hugged a pillow I saw Raph huffing from the kitchen.

"Who … who are you, where am I, what have you done to me?" she rambled as she peeked from behind the pillow, franticly searching for a way out.

"You want me to answer all those questions at once?" I said, probably a little to rude because I saw Don signaling. I rubbed my brow, alright, come on give her a chance don't be a bitch.

I got down to her level and forced a more believable smile on my face.

"Don't worry you are safe." I said, I gave her some time to get her act together. "You remember what happened?" I asked.

"Yeah … iii was chased down, I remember falling in the filthy water …" she frowned when she saw that her clothes were still covered in sewer water. Then she saw her leg. " …mmmy leg?" she asked.

"Those guys that were chasing you they hit you with a shuriken before you went down, but don't worry my brothers fought them off." I said, she frowned a bit and tried harder to remember that part.

"Your brothers?" she looked a little calmer despite the death grip on that poor pillow.

"Yeah, Donnie carried you all the way here and he and Leo took care of your leg." I said, trying to emphasize the fact that they were the good guys here.

"O, thank you, were are they, I want to thank them as well. You saved my life, I remember you now, the rest is a bit blurry, but I remember you were there." she said.

"No problem." at least she said thanks, "You have to promise not to freak out when my brothers appear though." I warned her.

"Freak out?" she said, not quite understanding. Well there really is no other way to say this …

"My brothers are four giant mutated turtles who can talk and are masters in martial arts." I said, she looked at me to see if I was kidding or not.

" Please say you are joking" she asked as she crawled away from me a little.

"Hey calm down, they are friendly, alright, they saved your life." I explained and got up back on my feet.

"You are crazy." she whispered and almost fell of the couch while trying to get away from me.

"Hey, I am not, listen calm down. Leo and Donnie will be angry at me if I can't get you to calm down."

"Well excuse me for not remaining calm! I've nearly escaped death, I'm injured and now you're telling me you believe there are karate mutants around?" she yelled, I glared at her, nobody insults my brothers.

"Don't make me punch you lady, calm down!" I said and unintentionally balled my fist. She flinched at my tone and pressed the pillow in her face, while sobbing a bit. I saw Raph giving me a thumps up and Don glaring … what is wrong with this picture? Donnie nodded at me to comfort her, he has got to be kidding?! I sighed again, alright here goes nothing. I sat myself next to her and waited until she stopped crying.

"Listen I'm sorry I yelled at you alright, I'm just a little protective when it comes to my family, we can't really trust humans so we have to stay down here. They are really risking a lot trying to help you, so please calm down we are not trying to hurt you." I explained calmly. Two minutes later she lifted her head from the pillow and did some breathing exercises.

"Sorry I flipped, I'm just under a lot of stress right now." she whispered.

" Don't worry about it, you've been through a lot tonight." she nodded and looked back in front of her.

"What is that?" she asked and pointed to the wall of televisions in front of us.

"Oh that's Donnie's work, he likes to fix things. He went kinda overboard when he finally figured out how to fix a tv, he brought all the things back to life within a one mile radius." I joked, she seemed to smile a bit at this.

"Could I meet them?" she asked, "I'll try not to freak out." she said. I looked behind me to Donnie and he nodded.

"Sure, here's Donnie right now." I said. She remained quiet when he walked around the couch and revealed himself to her.

"Hi." he said.

"Hi." she squeaked right back and almost hid back behind the cushion again.

"My name is Donatello, but everyone calls me Donnie." he held out his hand and with a trembling hand she shook his carefully. I nodded in approval, she was at least trying to accept my brothers.

"April, April O'neil" she said with a shaky voice, I smirked. No way she'll last longer than two days down here, mark my words she'll be out of our lives in no time.

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><p>Here she is April O'neil, I must say I wrote most of this when the new show wasn't out yet so it is mostly written from the 2003-series, which I thoughts were awesome obviously! But I like the 2012 April so much more! I always thought the guys needed a sister their age, which is why I started this story. But Damn I wish that show was around when I was younger, well maybe best it wasn't ^^<p>

Again thank you all again for your lovely reviews, favorites and follows!


	28. Another New Friend

**The Little Turtle.**

_A brother is a friend given by nature.  
><em>

28) Another new friend.

"Ah Theng Sjen lovely to see you again!" The professor claimed even more jolly than usual as he strode towards me. I've grown strangely fond of him, I know that not all humans are as mean as the purple dragons are or as annoying as April, but it is nice to have found evidence of that fact at last.

"Hey professor what's up?" I smiled as I wiped my hands clean on my pants. I had been rummaging through some clothing and succeeded in collecting a pile of mismatched gloves. I planned on sewing the fingers together so the others hopefully could have some gloves for the winter. But most importantly it gave me an excuse to be up here instead of down there with HER.

"Something wonderful my dear, I was hoping I'd see you, come I want to introduce you to someone." I smirked as he skipped off, well he's in a good mood today. I was a little on guard though, meeting new people is something I'm not so good at. Not wanting to insult my only human friend I decided to give whoever it is a chance. I packed the gloves together in a bag and ran after him.

I noticed that he wasn't going towards the camping grounds, instead he made his way towards the street. I caught up to him and laughed when I realized that in all his childlike enthusiasm he didn't notice my absence and had started a rather one-sided conversation. He reminds me of Donnie, I wish they could meet in person, they would get along so well.

"… moved here from Kansas." He babbled on.

"Who moved here?" I asked, he turned around and sheepishly scratched his neck when he noticed me catching up to him.

"Well my grandson. As I said to myself, he recently moved to town with my daughter." That came as a shock to me, I didn't know he had a family. What kind of daughter left her father out on the streets anyways? I decided not to comment though, family circumstances aren't always what they seem at first sight and it isn't really my place to meddle. Plus he seemed so genuinly happy I wouldn't wish to spoil the moment for him.

"That's nice." I simply said. He nodded, we came to a stop at the intersection close to the public school. I usually avoided this street, much to crowed for my liking.

" He's so bright for his age, he's determent to be a great scientist." He rambled like a proud grandfather.

"He takes after you then?" I asked, seemed like an innocent enough question but I spotted some grief in his eyes when I looked at him.

"Yes, it runs in the family." He said and smiled brightly. "I'm actually tutoring him, he's so motivated, determent to always stay one step ahead of the class."

"Good strategy." I said. I pulled my hood over my head when I noticed to stares of the odd teenager already fleeing the shool. Those kids perticulary are quick to judge and I get more outrageous stares from them than the average adult.

"Well yes, highschool is a battle ground, or so I hear." He looked at me, as if to know my opinion. I was about to comment that I obviously wouldn't know but I was interrupted by a shout from across the street.

"Grampa!" a boy across the street was waving at us, which earned him a few pointed glares in turn.

"Daren my boy!" as soon as the light hit green he all but ran across and jumped into the professor's arms, I felt a little out of place witnessing such an intimate display of affection. They stepped away from each other but the professor kept his arm around his grandson. The boy looked nothing like I had imagined, I always thought smart people wore glasses, guess tv isn't always right. He looked quite colorful with his flashy blue jeans, green shirt and bright red backpack. He looks out of place with us … too clean. My yellow shirt that I had pulled over my dark green sweater contained quite a few stains. Not to mention that my cut-off green army pants looks like it has seen both world war one and two. Why do I feel conscious about what I am wearing anyways?

The boy finally noticed me, his eyes were as colorful as the rest of him, bright green, which stood out quite a bit against the dark color of his skin.

"Oh yes, how rude, Daren this is a good friend of mine, Theng Sjen. Theng Sjen this is my grandson Daren." And he stepped aside to let us meet.

"Hey" I nodded politely, but he would have none of that, he stepped close and grabbed my dirty hand.

"I have heard about you." He exclaimed, I was a little shocked at my lack of people skills when I noticed that my first reaction had been to twist his hand and put him in a body lock.

"You have?" I eyed him wearily.

"You saved my grandfathers life!" he said and looked to the professor who nodded.

"Euh … kind of…" I was not used to strangers being so openly friendly towards me, I scanned my brain for appropriate comments but I came up blanc and thus continued to awkwardly shake his hand.

"Thank you! I'm Daren Flynn Stockman!" he said while shaking my hand. His childlike behavior reminded me of Mikey, which made it a little bit easier for me to open up.

"No problem, I'm Theng Sjen, but my brothers call me Thanny." He finally released my hand and I stepped back a bit so he wouldn't catch it again. He didn't notice and nodded at my explanation, not even commenting on my weird Japanese name while I was clearly not Asian at all.

"Daren is going to be around the campsite quite a bit, I was hoping you two would get along." The professor said and walked ahead, we followed him. He walked next to me and I felt obliged to say something, I wanted to be polite after all. I thought back to all the tv-shows Mikey and I had seen over the years and after a while found a usable sentence.

"So I heard you're new in town?" I asked, he seemed like the person who could open up easily.

"Yeah moved here a week ago, middle of the semester too." He said and adjusted his backpack, seemed like a lot of books in there.

"How has your first week been so far?" the professor asked.

"It was alright." He said but I noticed how he instantly pulled at his sleeve. "So Thanny, were do you go to school?" he asked and the professor stopped in his tracks.

"I don't." I said too quickly and was met by two shocked faces, "… I'm home schooled !" I quickly corrected my mistake, I forgot kids my age had to go to school.

"Oh, that's cool." Daren said. The professor eyed me critically and resumed his pace. "Your parents teach you?"

"Actually my brother does." I said proudly. "Do you have brothers or sisters?"

"Nah only child." He shrugged.

"Bummer." It would be so lonely without the others around.

"I thought siblings weren't supposed to get along?"

"Oh we fight a lot, but were really close." I said. Speaking of which, I looked at my watch and saw that I had less than fifteen minutes to get home for training. "Well, nice to meet you Daren but I gotta go."

"Why don't you go ahead and meet up with Wilson, you remember him right Daren?" a little puzzled at the sudden input by professor. Daren nodded and turned to me.

"Until next time, Thanny." He smiled and ran off. I smiled and looked towards the professor, who clearly wished to speak to me alone.

"You know that I teach the homeless children right?" he said as he kept an eye on Daren.

"You might have mentioned it." Where is he going with this?

"I know you don't like the camp but you are welcome to join the class anytime you want, Daren is going to be there after school times so you won't be completely alone." He awaited my answer.

"You don't think my brother's teachings are enough?" I challenged, he's right though. Donnie doesn't teach us that much any more, mostly because we don't have much patience for it, at least not like in school as the tv-series show. I never made a paper or had geometry or Spanish.

"I'm going on a limp here and say that your brother isn't recognized by the state." I huffed and crossed my arms. He smiled at my reaction. "Now I don't say that your brother isn't adequate to teach you. It's just that sometimes to do the things you want to do in life you need an education and if you want I can help you with that." I let my anger slide, he means well.

"I know, I don't need an education to do what I love to do, I get by." I turned around and walked away "See you around." And vanished into the shadows. I don't really look forward to going to the lair, with little miss home-wrecker around but its not like I have much of a choice now do I?

* * *

><p>Again Thank you for the wonderful reviews! And also everyone who Favorited, Follows and of course just reads my story.<p>

I uploaded two chapters once to make up for the long time without uploads. Sorry!

Also with the appearance of April O'Neill starts the actual arch of the story, instead of sort of one shots I've been doing. So I don't know if that's good or not but if at any point you feel that the story is missing something you can always let me know!

Hope you guys like it.


	29. Nuisance

AN: Alright, remember I wrote this story when the 2012 TMNT didn't exist yet and so the April O'Neil is the one from the 2003 universe ! Despite the fact that I love the 2012 incarnation infinitely more. But I have written out a whole plot already with the previous O'Neil so it would take long to change and the story line that I envisioned wouldn't be the same. So I'm sticking with her.

* * *

><p><strong>The Little Turtle.<strong>

_Life is not about waiting for storms to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.  
><em>

29) Nuisance. 

When I got back home Donnie was a little angry at me, well annoyed more likely. I don't think I've ever seen Donnie angry, my adorkable brother would probably still wouldn't look menacing even if he started yelling like Raph. Well there was that time that Mikey broke into his lab and decided to try and be a scientist too. Got to say Don definitely wins the prize for most creative/scientific curse words.

Anyway the reason that my purple-clad brother is not pleased with me is that even though I managed to convince miss O'Neil that ninja turtles were real and she was in the home of four of them. AND I convinced her that they weren't about to peel the flesh off of her bones. I apparently kinda forgot to mention the fact that said turtles were raised by a giant mutated rat.

She fainted as soon as she laid eyes on master Splinter. Mikey laughed at that, he, like the rest of us I couldn't possibly see our Sensei would be scary. When he's not lecturing us he has this kind and wise look, I was a little offended that she would show him such disrespect. But than again, I probably would take offense by everything Miss O'Neil does by this point.

Leo was now trying to wake her again, he put some tea on and Raph was keeping Mikey busy. Mikey said he knew a quick way to wake her up, I smiled at that. I knew a couple of methods too, one of them containing a bucket of cold sewer water. Sensing my evil thoughts I saw Donnie glaring at me again. Oh come on!

His anger towards me caused me to dislike this April woman even more, she will not be the reason that I end up fighting again with one of my brothers.

"Brainiac giving you a hard time?" Raph asked, he was leaning against the fridge as I was keeping myself busy in the kitchen, it was my turn to do the dishes. I put the plate I was drying down and sighed.

"Nah, not really, he's just a little annoyed that she freaked out because she saw Sensei. I guess humans don't really like their rats huge and intelligent huh?" I saw Leo fussing over her a little more, master Splinter was sitting in the chair besides them and Mikey was reading in his comics.

"Don't let them get to yah, she won't wrap me around her fingers so easily." He nudged my arm and walked out of the kitchen. I caught the little wink he threw at me, I smiled back. Thanks Raph, I felt a little better now that I knew he got my back.

It was time for our training, now we were practicing fighting more than one opponent at once. Leo of course had this down in no time, the others didn't so bad as well. I didn't do so well, the trick with my chain was that in close combat I usually tried to tie it around my opponent. But I used that so many times in the past that my brothers knew how to counter that already. Also I had to use my kunai knives more, definitely if one of the two attacking me is either Raph or Leo.

Not such a good idea to try and deflect a katana or sai with my arm, even if its enforced by my manriki. I wasn't that skilled with handling a blade, which was just why master Splinter wanted me to practice more.

This time it was Mikey and Raph against me, they weren't attacking full force. We had developed these cool combo's and double attacks that no one could stand against. We rarely got to use them in real battle because we scatter easily, but when we do it is so awesome!

But mmy daydreaming was cut short when Mikey swept the legs from underneath me. I growled in anger when I was once again floored. My back ached from all the times I had hit the ground, how I longed for a shell.

"Stop the match!" Master Splinter yelled, when he saw it took longer for me to get up. I lifted up my hand to signal that I was good. No, I want to go again, I just want a moment to get my breath. I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds and I got up again.

"She's good." Raph said, I smiled in thanks at him.

"Come on Pinky, ready for what ? Round twenty?" Mikey mocked. I saw Donnie sit back down and watch the fight, he probably jumped up when he thought I had gotten hurt. Donnie was sort of our medic/repairman.

"Yeah, just lay back down on the floor sis, saves us time" Raphie joined Mikey in taunting me. Master Splinter allowed this sort of banter, he said that in a fight one must have total concentration no matter what and these sort of distractions were part of it.

"You wish." I twisted my chain and managed to wrap it around Mikey's hand, I learned not to do this with Raphie. He would just fling me out of the dojo. I could control some of Mikey's movements like this and even made them collide with each other from time to time. I used my kunai to deflect Raph's sai and kicked his legs from underneath him at the same time.

No way I'm going down now, Mikey swung at me with his nunchuck I ducked and slipped underneath his legs. Then I kicked him in the shell and pulled at my chain which was still wrapped around his hand at the same time so he somersaulted and landed on his shell with a loud thud.

Raph came at me again and I used my chain to block his sai, I spinned and managed to flick the sai out of his hand. He smirked at me signaling that I was doing better. But I hadn't counted on Mikey's retaliation and he managed to kick my legs from underneath me. And I landed on my front this time, once again knocking the air out of my lungs.

Goddammit ! I punched the ground in frustration, I was getting so sick of this!

"That is all for today, my children." Master Splinter said and got up from his seat. Mikey helped me up.

We all joined to bow in front of him. He bowed back and we were dismissed. I cracked my back a couple of times. Damn, good thing we have these mats in here. I thought not for the first time.

"You alright?" Donnie asked and he eyed my back. I smiled, he isn't as angry as I thought he was. Maybe I'm over exaggerating everything.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I'm gonna stay and practice some more." I said and made my way to the center of the dojo to do my kata's and gymnastic moves.

"Don't push yourself." I heard him say. I just nodded in response.

I closed my eyes to concentrate myself, all these stupid little frustrations really pile up after a while. I started with doing a series of flips and somersaults. Half way through it I noticed that my back took more damage than I thought. I stopped and groaned a bit as I tried to rub out the pain coming from my spinal cord. Stupid weak human body. I tried to stretch a couple of times to get it out but none of it helped.

I heard someone enter, probably Leo who wanted to train some more too.

"You're very good." that voice was way too high and annoying to be Leo. I turned around and saw the woman standing there.

"Thanks." I muttered, of course it would look good to a human, she hadn't seen a ninja up close before yesterday.

"Did you hurt your back?" she asked. And came closer, I glared at her, well at least she had taken her shoes off. I placed my hands on the ground and flipped myself back up.

"Nah, I'm fine." I said and decided to do some damage to the punching bag instead.

"You should take it easy you know, you could seriously hurt yourself."

"I can take care of myself." I said and took a little pleasure in picturing her face on the bag before kicking it. I heard her sigh and leave the room.

She had told us before that she worked as an intern in some fancy lab. She decided to stick her nose too deep in their business stumbled upon an army of soldiers and was chased down. That's what you get for not minding your own business lady. I thought, I knew I shouldn't be so mean to her even if it was in my head. But I couldn't help it there was something about her that ticked me off.

After another hour of secretly hitting April O'Neil in the face I decided to call it a day and rest a bit. Mikey was sitting on the couch playing a video game I looked around for a sign of the woman and saw her tinkering with Donnie in his lab. Well we called it a lab, to her it was probably just an overrated subway car.

I laid myself next to Mikey and pillowed my head on his leg.

"You want to play." he asked.

"Don't you think you've beaten me enough for one day?" I joked.

"Wittle Pinky to scawed to pway?" he said in baby language.

"As if." I mumbled.

"So anything new uptop?" he asked while clicking away on his controller. Damn I forgot about Daren.

"Yeah actually, I met a boy today." I said I could immediately heard the tv go game over as the clicking stopped. I looked up to see his stunned look. I grinned wasn't expecting that huh?

He frantically looked around, Donnie was in his lab showing off to the nuisance, Leo had just gone into the dojo, master Splinter was meditating and Raph was nowhere to be seen. He pushed me off his lap and into a seating position.

Than like a giddy school girl clapped his hands while hopping up and down he whispered. "Tell me all about it!" I laughed.

"His name is Daren, he's the grandson of the professor." I said.

"How old is he?" he asked.

"I dunno, about my age I guess, he's still in highschool so."

"Does he like videogames? Oh can you borrow some? Is he into comic books?" he asked.

"Geez, do you wanna marry him or something? I dunno we didn't talk so much, it was kinda awkward, but he seemed nice enough." I shrugged.

"That's good, so are you gonna see him again?" wiggled his eyebrows.

"What? I dunno, I guess he's getting tutored by the professor so he should be hanging around the junk yard ... maybe. Why are you so excited by this?"

"Dude, you're sixteen, you are supposed to hang out with kids your age, fall head over heals in love, get fake ID's, go dancing … you know."

"That's not really me Mikey, I'm happy down here, I don't care if I don't have human friends, I have you guys."

"Yeah I know, but come on, isn't there a part of you that wants to do all that stuff? I mean, you could have it if you wanted to." He said and I instantly felt sorry, if Mikey were human I could so see him as the partying type. I smiled and pillowed my head back down on his lap.

"Yeah, I know." I whispered, I could hear him resume his game " You know what? Next time I see him I'll force him to give up all his video games and comic books." I closed my eyes as I heard him laugh.

"I'm gonna hold you to that." I tried to sleep a little. I felt him pat my back, I smiled and snuggled a little closer to him.

"If there is a mustache on your face when you wake up, just remember it was probably Raph." I heard him say before I fell asleep.

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><p>Thank you GadgetCid, Jaybird and dreamlighting for reviewing ! Also thank you abbyswancullen for your suggestions!<p>

And all of you who faved, followed and of course read the story.


	30. Pizza Troubles

**The Little Turtle.**

_"A true friend is someone who knows there's something wrong even when you have the biggest smile on your face."_

30) Pizza Troubles.

We didn't see much from master Splinter the last couple of days, he spend most of his time meditating. We were told not to leave the lair only to get food and that Miss O'Neil would not be left alone. Joy !

Good thing it's my job to get pizza otherwise it would be me babysitting her. Strangely Donnie didn't seem to mind that at all, well I guess she is a scientist too, they must have some things in common. I've seen them work together on small projects and program stuff on that computer.

'It's so impressive Don, you made this all by yourself? Wow, you are a genius!' I heard her say. This caused Donnie to blush like crazy.

I got back from the pizzeria with as much pizza's I could carry! Treat of Miss O'Neil, damn these smell good. Freshly made pizza's just out of the oven are going to taste so much better than those frozen ones we sometimes managed to get. I was getting some weird stares but I didn't care, this was going to be the best food we EVER had, I just know it! I was waiting for the green light to cross the street when I heard my name being called. I tried to turn around and face this person but a pile of pizza's stood between us.

" Thanny? That is you underneath that mountain isn't it?" I recognized the voice.

"Hi Daren, yes it's me, I'd shake your hand but if I drop these they are gonna kill me." I joked, he laughed and asked if I needed a hand. I did in fact but it would be very hard to explain why he would have to drop the pizza's in the sewer.

"You going to the professor?" I asked.

"Nah, just came from there, I'm heading home early." He said. "So what's with the pizza's having a party or did you just rob the place?" I laughed.

"No, on both accounts. More an uninvited guest who won't leave, but she's paying for the food so at least I get something out of it." I mumbled. The light hit green and we crossed the street, I had to somehow get rid of him before I got to the alley where Mikey was waiting for me. Fortunately for me he had to go the opposite way.

"You know, this new movie that came out this week?" he asked out of the blue.

"Err… not really." I glanced towards the alley and saw that Mikey was able to control himself for now, it's my luck the wind is coming from the right direction otherwise the predator would be on us in a second. Daren shifted awkwardly on his feet.

"Well, it's supposed to be really good and I wanted to see it but I just moved here and I don't really know anyone yet …" he stopped there, I rolled my eyes.

"Where are you going with this?" I asked. Man this is getting heavy.

"Do you want to go with me to the movie?" he all but blurted out. I thought this guy was smart? Can't he tell that I don't have money to go to the movies? Well maybe he thought I just earned a fortune and was wasting it all on pizza's or something?

"I'm sorry but I can't." I said, before he could say anything else I saw Mikey sneaking a peek at us, damn he spotted the food we have 5 minutes tops. Gotta wrap this up. "Look, I'm sorry but I really gotta go, see you around alright?" And I made a run for it. I heard him mumble something, he sounded disappointed, nah I'll ask the next time I see him. Who knows maybe I hurt his feelings by missing a subtle social thingy.

"So was that your boyfriend?" Mikey teased as I entered the alley where he was waiting for me.

"I don't have friends." I said. "How can I have a boyfriend."

"I don't know he seemed to like you very much." he teased and drooled over the food as he relieved some of my burden.

"Yeah he's cool. But I think I said something wrong." I said as I jumped down the manhole, that stopped his teasing abruptly.

"Alright what did you do?" he asked and put his hand on his hip.

"I don't know alright? Maybe it's not me but something else that was bothering him. Ohwell he did sounded happy enough at first." I wondered out loud. I caught the little smirk that Mikey quickly wiped off his face and jumped down the manhole.

"Well what did you talk about?" He asked as I jumped down after him.

"Just stuff, why I was carrying so many pizza's, where he was going, if I wanted to go to the movies." I summed up that last one made my brother stop in his tracks. He turned around dramatically.

"He what?!" he yelled.

"What's the big deal, he asked if I wanted to go to the movies with him, because he had no one else to go with him and I said no." I still didn't understand what the big deal was.

"You what!" he yelled again.

"Calm down, how could I possibly go? He wanted to go this week, do you know how long it's gonna take to save up that amount of money?" At my reasoning he slapped his hand on his head. Alright I missed something.

"That poor boy, he didn't even know that he was up against the definition of clueless! Have all these years of television thought you nothing?!" he was being more dramatically than ever.

"Just explain to me what I did wrong!"

"Dude he asked you out and you shot him down!" he said, that shocked me beyond belief "That poor boy, he probably gathered all his courage to do that and you trampled all over him." He went on and on about it.

"I didn't know!" I yelled, I didn't, how was I supposed to know, in the movies there is always a pattern! Meeting, giving of flowers, being overly-lovey-dovey-romantic and than asking out! "How was I supposed to know that?! I didn't mean! Oh Damn, one!" I held up my finger "One human friend and I screwed up what? The second time we met?" I felt so stupid, that's it tomorrow I'm gonna sit down in front of the tv with a notebook and write down all the social rules and protocols to survive up there.

"Don't worry, if he really likes you he'll be back. Just explain to him you didn't understand and didn't mean to hurt him. And for pete sake the next time he asks, say yes!" he ruffled my hair and proceeded to walk to the lair. But he wouldn't be Mikey if he didn't taunt me with this.

"Oh yes, yes, yes, my dear little sister you have a suitor, the first of many no doubt. You little heartbreaker you." he threw me in a sideways hug and I ducked my head in embarrassment.

"I'm so embarrassed I'm never going up there again you hear me? Enjoy these pizza's cause they're the last you're ever getting." That him to easy of the teasing.

"No ! never! Listen I'll give you some advice alright? Just listen to the love doctor." Mikey joked or so I hoped.

"You're going to say it anyway so let's hear it."

"First of all, don't act any different than you have done so far around him, just be yourself alright? Second don't say yes because you feel like you have to, only go out with him if you like him alright? Third and this is the most important rule of all, don't ever and I mean ever ever ! Tell any of this to either Leo or Raph." He was really serious about the last part.

"Why?"

"Are you kiddin? They'll kill the poor lad." he said, oh please let this be a nightmare. Why is my life getting so complicated all of a sudden?

We got into the living room and the others were all obviously waiting for us, even master Splinter sat in his chair. Because of our extra houseguest I had to sit on the floor.

"My children, miss O'Neil I wish to tell you more about the people that you have encountered a few days ago." master Splinter spoke when we were finished eating.

"You know those wannabe ninja's?" Raph asked. Master Splinter ignored his comment instead he seemed to think deeply about what he was going to tell.

"You all know how we came to be." he spoke, we all nodded. Little turtles and rat plus ooze equals mutated family.

"I told you the story of master Yoshi." Leo nodded, it our favorite story when we were little. "What I did not tell you was how he died, he was murdered. My beloved master was attacked in our home." It seemed hard on our father, it shook me a bit he saw his master die?

"He fought bravely and though he was gravely outnumbered, he stood his own and was about to gain the upper hand. That was until he entered, it is my believe that all beings carry both good and bad inside of them but that man is through and through consumed by hatred and evil, it is the devil on earth and he defeated my master without honor. They tried to get information out of him, but my master refused and defied them with unmatched courage and honor until the very end. Then they struck him down." He got quiet at that part, we all did. We never heard this ending to the story before. After a few minutes he found his voice again. "Shortly after I found you my sons and you know the rest." We all remained silent as we took this all in, master Yoshi who I had always considered a hero now was promoted to a legend.

"The organization that I spoke of is a ninja clan that came from the east named the foot, their master the great evil of which I spoke goes by the name of Shredder." He said that in such an eerie tone that it send a shudder through my body.

"Why didn't you tell this before master?" Leo asked, I was surprised he didn't know of this. Father usually tells Leo everything.

"I did not tell you this because I refuse to let your minds be consumed by anger and hate, your training will not be affected by this and we will not engage this enemy until they strike us first. Though I fear that fate will not have it this way." He looked at April.

"I'm sorry … I …" she was at a loss of words.

"Do not apologize miss O'Neil, it was fate that brought you to us. All is as it must be, we are honored to call you our guest." He bowed a little towards her.

"Yeah, no sweat girl it wasn't yer fault, they were the one chasing you remember? " Mikey said, she smiled a little.

"Don't worry April, everything will be fine, we'll help you." Donnie said.

"But how? I can't stay hidden here forever and you can't fight the entire clan on your own." She had a point.

"We know our enemy, they do not know of us. We have the advantage, we could lead a surprise attack." Leo offered.

"Leonardo, I will not allow any of you to put your lives at risk because of my quarry with the Shredder."

"This is our fight too master" Leo said.

"Our clan is our family, the shredder has slain your master and caused you grief. When one causes harm to one of the family everyone is harmed." Mess with one of us you mess with all of us, Don and Raphie nodded in agreement.

"I will not hear of any of this, none of you will intentionally seek out this enemy we will not start a war that we cannot win. I lost my family once I will most definitely not allow it to be destroyed again, especially by the hands of that man." It was rare for master Splinter to raise his voice, but when he does everyone stays quiet. April was the one who broke the silence.

"I've never heard of the name shredder before, the head of the company I worked at was a man from Japan though." She wondered out loud.

"Yes, he goes by many names, the one he has chosen in this city is Oroku Saki."

"Oroku Saki, the head of the million dollar company, the richest businessman in the state?" Donnie exclaimed, Mikey and I exchanged an ignorant glance.

" It doesn't matter how much money he got, he touches any of us. We'll put him down." Raph growled and twisted his sai. Yeah, we can take some stupid foot army, how hard can it be?

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><p>Thank you Abbyswancullen, GadgetCid and bluebacon for the reviews and all of you who faved, follows and read the story!<p> 


	31. House Sitting

**The Little Turtle.  
><strong>

_"Even if you have lost all hope, just stand up and ROAR! That's the kind of person I know you are!"  
><em>

31) House Sitting

"April? April?" I saw Mikey wave in front of the woman, she nearly jumped a meter into the air when she finally noticed him.

"Oh, sorry Mikey." She apologized and continued to awkwardly fumble with her t-shirt. She has been staying with us for four days now. And even though Donnie is catering to her every whim she isn't exactly comfortable in the sewers, though break lady.

"What's the matter April? You seem kinda out of it?" he asked.

"No it's nothing I was just wondering if my home is still standing, or if they had destroyed it already." she admitted.

"Oh, well we could always check it out." He said, Mikey couldn't stand it if anyone was unhappy, he just had to make them feel better. Usually I really respected that part of him, but now …

"We could do that you know? We could pass it on our training run, we could even pick something up for you if you want?" Donnie said when he came out of the kitchen. NO WAY!

"Don't you think that's kinda dangerous? If they are really after her wouldn't they keep a watch on her home?" I tried to reason, why would we risk our lives for something stupid as that?!

"Well I have been thinking about that, there doesn't seem to be any unusual activity in the sewers. It sorta seems like they have given up, they don't seem to be searching anymore. They must have either decided that you, sorry for saying this aren't worth the time going after …" I smirked at that. " or that you won't have anything to prove if you did came out with it." Donnie said.

"We don't know that, Donnie. But you are right we could at least take a look at the place from a safe distance." Leo said as he joined the argument.

"It's decided then, could you just give me the directions?" Donnie smiled.

"I'll go get Raph" I said, not with much enthusiasm. He was beating on the punching bag again.

"Hey, come on the princess wants us to go and check if her castle is still standing." I said.

"You've got to be kiddin me?" he stopped punching and turned to me.

"Nah, even Leo's all for it, be glad we don't have to feed her cat or walk her dog or something, I swear she's some kinda demon pulling mind tricks on them. If you go all lovey dovey on her I won't go easy on you." I said more seriously then I intended. He just laughed and ruffled my hair as he passed.

"Jealous much." he taunted, that got me mad.

"I'm not jealous!" I practically yelled, he turned around and lifted one brow. This was Raph for saying; 'yer sure putting a lot of effort denying it' . "Shut up." I whispered at him and tried not to fall over as I nudged him with my elbow with a little too much enthusiasm, he had to laugh at that.

"We ready to go or what?" I mumbled when I saw them all still sitting around her.

"Yeah sure, April …" Leo started his usual lecture.

"… I know, I know, stay here don't go outside." She said and flipped through the channels on the television. "Thank you for doing this guys, I really appreciate it." Well just make yourself comfortable why don't yah?! I did a little April impression as I followed behind my bro's, Raph caught that of course.

"Down girl." he smiled and ushered me along. "Come on, with some luck her place is crawling with purple dragons and I'll let you have first pick." I looked up to him. "Not jealous my shell." He snorted, I punched him in the arm for that. Which just made him laugh, he's having way to much fun with this.

"Could you two be a little quiet back there, this is a stealth mission you know?" Mikey said as they were climbing up to street level. Oh boy getting anger management from Raphie and Mikey telling me to keep quiet, what is this world coming to?

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><p>Thank you again Reviewers ! Who is gonna be my 100th one? :)<p>

Special Thanks to abbyswancullen, GadgetCid, dreamligting and bluebacon ! You guys are awesome !

Next chapter won't be long I solemnly swear!


	32. Pains of the Past

**The Little Turtle.**

_Water never waits. It changes shape and flows around things, and finds the secret paths no one else has thought about …the tiny hole through the roof or the bottom of the box. (Memoirs of a Geisha.)_

32) Pains of the Past.

April's place was intact, Donnie and Leo ganged up on me and forced me to go through her drawers in search of clean clothes for the princess. My God did this woman have a lot of clothes! And shoes! There was no end to them, my only footwear; a mismatched pair of slightly too large combat-boots paled in comparison. But I sucked it up and crammed as much clothes as I could get my hands on in the duffle Donnie brought along, no way am I making this trip twice!

"Alright done!" I yelled as I threw the duffel in Donnie's general direction. They shushed me, I noticed that they had killed the lights and were watching the window. I smirked, yes some action, maybe this trip wasn't such a bad idea! With a slight bounce in my step I snuck behind Mikey and peered around him to see what the fuss was about.

"Purple dragons." Mikey whispered. I cracked my knuckles and probably had an evil look on my face.

"Remember you promised I could have first pick." I whispered to Raph, who just nudged me.

"Think this is a coincidence? They don't seem to be going anywhere in particular." Donnie asked Leo.

"Don't know, let's keep low and watch what they're up to." awww I thought. But then the biggest guy I had ever seen in my life, a mountain with a blond ponytail, yelled something and kicked open the backdoor like it was nothing.

"Or let's go kick their ass!" Raph said as he climbed out of the window. I laughed as I followed, the rest in pursuit. Traffic was slow so we stuck to the shadows and made it to the alley where they were collecting their lute. It was a dead end, no way any of them were getting out of here.

Leo gave the handsignal to engage the enemy, in this case it meant knock as many of them out as soon as possible. We were outnumbered and counting that giant who was still inside the store we had to dwindle their numbers as soon as possible. I was having so much fun, I rocked at stealth, it was one of the few times my tiny posture was an advantage. I had taken down two, they just dropped to the ground. I liked the split second where they were confused and didn't know what was happening. I jumped and crashed my knee against a guy's nose, I could feel it give, he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

But this only lasted for a minute, than someone called out for help and the rest who were stealing away in the store came pooring out like rats from a storm drain. Leo ordered us to make a line of defense.

"What's going on out there?! Can't you rookies handle guard duty?!" The leader, pushed through their ranks and made his way to us.

A shock of recognition passed through me, I knew the walking landmass over there. I defeated him when I was little, he seemed so much larger than I remember. Probably steroids, no human can grow that many muscles on its own.

"You look familiar haven't I seen you somewhere before?" he smirked. My brothers looked confused, they didn't know what he was talking about, never having seen this guy in their lives.

"Dude, that is a horrible pick up line." Mikey said and flicked his nunchucks under his arms. The ogre ignore him and stomped towards us, his eyes trained on me as he tried to figure out where he knew me from as I obviously recognized him too. My brothers backed away a little with every step he took, I was too stunned to move. I forced myself to look menacing as I pulled my mask over my eyes and that's when he connected the dots.

"You're that little brat, ain't yah?" he laughed and stared at me with such cold eyes, that smirk how long had it haunted me? I could still see it clear as day, him holding me at gun-point while he was laughing. The scar on my leg almost started aching in recognition. Donnie looked back at me and recognized the terror on my face. He figured it out, he should, Donnie was the only one who truly knew just how deeply this monster traumatized me.

"This! This is the one who attacked you? You defeated that ogre when you were ten years old?!" Donnie freaked, under normal circumstances I would have laughed at the way he was flailing his arms around. The others followed his gaze and looked back and forth between us. Raph growled, and flashed his blades around dangerously.

"You and I got business pall." Not a second later he charged the monster. This caused the rest to follow his example with a battle cry they all attacked, the monster punched and kicked away and almost hit Donnie in the back.

"Dragons engage!" he yelled and all of a sudden a dozen more purple dragons came flooding in the alley. I forced myself to snap out of it seeing that I was still rooted in my spot and started fighting the dragons that were coming up behind me. Raphie was still fighting the giant, I hope he is going to be okay it seemed the monster had gotten better. Well that doesn't matter we have gotten better too, my brothers can handle anything I thought as I split kicked two dragons in the face. I landed and smirked down at their groaning bodies, pretty pleased with myself. I ducked a baseball bat and grabbed the guys arm and flung him to the other side of the alley where he landed with a large oomphf on his back, he'd be down for a while. My usual sparring partners were a lot heavier than ordinary humans so I may have overdone it a bit.

An ominous shadow fell over me, quite literally cause the monster stood right behind me, come on no fear. With a yell I tried to punch him in the solar plexus, that literally hurt me more than it did him, he laughed and cracked his fists as if saying 'my turn'. The foot-clan tattoo that sported his right shoulder flexed along with the muscles.

"Payback." he smiled. He punched but I avoided it barely as well as the kick that followed after I managed to flip out of the way as his feet seemed to make the ground tremble. I was backed into a wall now, I managed to duck a hockey stick aimed at my head and I kicked the guy who flung it at me he at least went down like a good little purple dragon. That however gave the mountain the opportunity to kick me in the back.

I got knocked face first into the wall. I fell down, my head was pounding. I felt someone lift me by my ponytail and force me on my knees. As if my pounding head wasn't enough he felt the need to pull out my hair as well.

"Everybody freeze or girly loses her head." He yelled and held a blade to my neck. He forced my head up by holding onto my wrist with the same hand that clutched my hair, it forced my body arched in a painful and incredible vulnerable position, he kept my feet crushed beneath his knee. I had nowhere to go, my one free hand tried to keep the blade away from my neck, I clawed at it in desperation but I did more damage to myself than anything else, so I forfeited my futile attempts to free myself. I felt panic and fear rush through my system, I tried to tell myself that it wouldn't help anyone if I got hysterical. Easier said than done, I tried to ignore the horrible flashbacks and to control my breathing like master Splinter taught me but with that monster having a death grip on me it was rather hard to do so.

"Let her go!" I heard Mikey yell. I opened my eyes and saw my brothers being forced to back down because I was being held hostage.

"Drop your weapons!" he yelled, Don and Mikey looked at Leo. I saw Leo's eyes trained on me, I tried to tell them not to listen but even before I got a word out he yanked my hair again and threatened to dislocate my shoulder. Only a hiss of pain got through my lips. When I opened my eyes again Raph threw his sais towards the ground so that they where imbedded in the cement an inch beside the foot of a purple dragon. Something started brewing inside of me then, the sight of my brothers helpless and unarmed against ten purple dragons. My free hand clutched itself in a fist, the calm breathing turned to enraged huffs of air. I knew it was stupid to fear him, what did I have to be afraid of? Getting hurt? Dying? Look at what fear has gotten me so far? Come on Theng Sjen no rash actions, think.

"So this is your family huh?" he taunted, I growled when he pulled my hair again. "Pathetic, you actually consider them your brothers? These freaks? Well not for long." I tried not to hear his taunts, FREAKS? I hate that word. I heard Raph growl and for once I completely understood how he could explode in anger like he often did, it really felt like a volcano ready to burst. Come on think!

I had to get loose and get that blade away from my neck, I had one kunai at my disposal and a chain wrapped around my free hand. I could stab his hand and make him release the blade but that would only leave me with a pissed off guy at the end of my ponytail. No I had to be able to move, if I could just turn around I could push him away. I won't be able to eliminate both his hands though, I had to use my moment of surprise to escape. That left me with a very short time to pull my move. I knew what I had to do, I closed my eyes for a moment and prayed that all would go as well as I had envisioned it.

When I opened my eyes again I instantly reached for my kunai, in a split second I placed my arm between the knife and my neck effectively pushing the blade away. Because of the chain around my arm it didn't slice my arm open completely, I didn't went for him with my blade though. No instead I reached around and cut my hair, so he only had the remains of my ponytail in his hand. I was now free to move around, I shoved the butt of my kunai against his nose. He released my wrist, to now hold onto his bleeding nose, his eyes were closed in pain and in the moment of confusion I managed to get my legs from under him, I kicked him square in the chin. Then I flipped out of the way and threw my chain around his arm.

He recovered from the shock and pulled, I used this strength to fling me at his head. I landed a kick to his face, that seemed to throw him off a little. I dropped down and slipped in between his legs and kicked him in the hollow behind his knee, this caused him to buckle a bit, I came around again and avoided a blow. He was getting angry now, he flung a sloppy punch at my head which I avoided.

He tripped a little because of the chain being twisted around his feet and fell forward, I busted my knee against his nose as he came down. I thought I had him for a moment as I stood over him panting in exhaustion, but he got up with vengeance and snapped my chain, he charged at me. I hesitated for a second I did not expect him to recover so soon and he used that brief moment of hesitation to slap me out of the way. The force of it made me fly and I braced myself for another meeting with the wall but it didn't come.

Instead someone caught me in mid air, it was Donnie.

"You are not alone this time." he said and put me on my feet, I saw Mikey and Raph harass him while Leo finished the last of the purple dragon goonies. I nodded at Don and he took out his bo staff and together we fought my childhood demon.

"Thanny slingshot!" Mikey yelled, Leo and Raph were distracting him. Mikey and Donnie put their hands together, I smirked we had practiced this move a couple of times before.

I took off running and jumped on their hands they gave me a little lift while I pushed off of them and that catapulted me in the air, I twisted around and brought my foot down on his head. That send his head down and with a loud thud he crashed head first to the ground with me landing on his back. I jumped off of him for good measure and landed besides Leo.

He lifted his head once to snarl at us , I was afraid that he would come up again, damn what was this human made of? But he must have used all of his strength because not ten seconds after that he was unconscious.

"That one was for insulting my brothers!" I said as I huffed some of the strands out of my eyes.

"Man we are good!" Mikey came up to me and high-fived.

"That's my girl." Raphie said as he ruffled my now short hair, he glared some more at the two ton purple dragon that lay unconscious at my feet and ushered me away. I followed limping a little, my head was throbbing and my arms were sore but I couldn't stop smiling.

"Was that really the guy you beat when you were ten?" Mikey asked, he flung an arm around my waist to support me a little.

"Yeah … he wasn't that big before." I said.

"Still little ninja that was most impressive." Leo complemented, I nodded in thanks.

I rubbed through my hair, it felt strange now it was short. Great, now I look even more like a homeless person.

"It'll grow back." Donnie said and patted my shoulder.

"Yeah I know." I said. He noticed my injured arm from where the knife had managed to cut my skin. He took his headband of and wrapped it around the wound, it was bleeding pretty hard but that's probably because of all the moving around I did back there. I looked up at him and saw that he too had a nasty cut on his shoulder. I copied his move and took of my mask, my green mask was almost invisible against his skin. He smiled down at me and ruffled my hair. Guess they found the messy head funny somehow.

"Come on lets go home little turtle, we have got a lot of explaining to do." he leaned a bit on his bo-staff as he dragged along the almost forgotten duffle bag for April.

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><p>Thank you IAmTheDragonEmpress for being my 100th reviewer! Also wakkowarnerlover1, EpicThunder101 and special thanks to tigerleah who gave me so much great idea's for the story!<p>

And thank you readers for reading!

For those who are confused the Purple Dragon who beat her up when she was a kid ( chapter 15: First Fight) is the same one as in this chapter, namely Hun from the 2003 version of tmnt.

This chapter has been in my head for so long, I'm so excited for it to be out already. I have to admit that the hair-cutting part isn't mine but I stole it from Naruto episode 32 Sakura Blossoms. Where Sakura who so far hasn't been doing much, cuts off her own hair with a kunai and fights a losing battle in a last attempt to save her teammates. Not much of a Naruto fan besides the first season but this scene stuck with me.

SO : HAIR CUTTING NOT MINE, JUST THOUGHT IT WAS COOL ! ALL CREDITS TO THE CREATORS OF NARUTO !


	33. The Wise Michelangelo

**The Little Turtle**

_Rain is just another kind of good weather (Casanova – Franshesca's mom)  
><em>

33) The Wise Michelangelo.

Master Splinter was worried … nothing new there, it didn't help when Mikey decided to retell our day's events to April with much vigor I might add. I shuffled into the bathroom around the part where he pretending to be me kicking the ogres ass. I smiled when I heard him give me a few cheesy action movie one-liners.

I flicked on the light and stood in front of the mirror. I still had my hood on, I didn't want master Splinter to see the damage before I had the chance to look a little bit presentable. I know we are all considered ninja and equal on the battle field but still master Splinter considered violence against women despicable. Me being the runt of the family will also have something to do with it, I try not to take too much offence though, he's protective over all of us.

I sighed when I saw how badly messed up it was, as a ninja one shouldn't really care about looks definitely not when said ninja lives in the sewers but … my hair, it was the one thing I actually liked about being human. Now it's so uneven, my bangs are still the same length as they were before but at the top of my head it's no more than an inch. I twirled around a kunai from my belt, if I could just even it out a bit, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Or maybe I'll make it worse.

Come on get this bird nest under control! I decided to cut my bangs a bit shorter and I removed the few of the surviving long strands on the back. A lifetime of saving all gone in a couple of seconds. I shoved the cut-off strands in the trash. It was as if I had a two year old for a hairdresser but it was as good as I was going to get it. I turned on the warm water in the shower and prepared for a long well deserved soak.

That night I didn't sleep so well the bruising on my back kept me from resting in my normal sleeping position. So I turned to the dojo, it wouldn't be the first time I pulled an all-nighter, better to get some training done.

After two hours of manriki-exercises I heard someone else wandering about. I stopped and listened for a bit. Whoever it was, was too loud to be one of my brothers, the lack of wood hitting stone told me it wasn't Master Splinter either. That only left one other person, O'neil. Oh that wench, who does she think she is, strolling around here like she owns the place.

I decided to do some meditating that way I can do warm ups with Leo when he comes in. When I finally managed to calm my raging mind down I noticed the sound of people talking. I tried to block it out, almost succeeded when I distinctly heard my name being mentioned. Not so much that but the annoying high pitched voice that boomed from the kitchen made me pay attention.

_… deserves better?"_

_"I understand your point miss O'Neil but my daughter is part of this family and thereby was trained in the way of ninjitsu."_ That was master Splinter, apparently he joined her in the kitchen. Why that little … if she had a problem with me say it to my face coward!

_"She got hurt today, I'm guessing it is not the first time. How long will you let this nonsense continue? I understand what you did with the four boys but Theng Sjen is human! You should have placed her in an orphanage a long time ago! How is she going to have any future at all when you keep her down here?"_ I was about to go outside and smack her around. _"She does not have an education, what is she going to do when she grows up if she even survives that long?"_ my hand was on the door about to shove it open and give her a piece of my mind.

_"Despite what you think of me and our way of life, I raised my children only with the best intentions, I considered all the possible choices including giving up my daughter." _master Splinter answered and I froze on the spot._ "At first I did not know of the place you call orphanage, I was not raised in the way of humans and do not know everything about your world miss O'Neill so when I found my daughter sixteen years ago I decided that I would not take any chances and raise her as my own. After all I believe in faith and who is to say the humans would give her a good home and not abandon her again. My daughter is strong miss O'Neil, she will make her own path in life I have no doubt that she will be heading for a bright future because she has a loving family that supports her no matter what, that is a gift few people have these days."_

I smiled, master Splinter always knows what to say.

_"Alright I can see your point but still, fighting like she does it is not a normal upbringing for a young girl."_ argg! Will that woman never shut up!

_"They do not fight, they defend themselves and others, it is dangerous and my heart breaks every time they return injured. But please understand my sons need to be able to defend themselves against threats from the outside world, everything they learn now from their mistakes will only benefit them in the future."_

_"But Thanny is human she does not need to fight."_ I made a fist and swore that if she does not shut up she'll end up eating it! But master Splinter wasn't finished.

_"Miss O'Neil we are a family we protect each other, could you turn your back on a family member if they were being harmed, I rather she knows how to fight to protect instead to die trying to."_ She stayed quiet after that.

_"Theng Sjen wishes to be like her brothers, it's what she strives for right now. That in my opinion is not abnormal for one her age. I am aware of the fact that I cannot possibly offer her an education, I tried to remedy that fact by letting Donatello educate them. I know this is nothing compared to the schooling she would receive in a normal family, but this isn't anything I can help. We simply have no way of raising that kind of money. Now if that is all I would like to begin morning practice and teach my children a lesson about eavesdropping on a private conversation."_ The simultaneous groan that sounded through the lair told me that I would not be the only one doing extra push ups. Doesn't matter I got energy to spare and target practice with her face on it.

If miss O'Neil wasn't already on my list she sure was now. Master Splinter spoke to me after practice, he sensed my anger towards our houseguest and said that she only had good intensions when she confronted him this morning. This would be the first time I actually disagreed with master Splinter.

"She's not too bad actually." Mikey said as he ate his cereal.

"You've got to be kiddin me right?" I said as I almost choked on my milk.

"Donnie and master Splinter sure seem to like her and Leo's not picking up and enemy vibes from her."

"You're only saying that because she said she'd give you her dad's old comic books."

"That was a contributing factor." He smiled and shrugged a bit.

"Raph doesn't trust her either." I pointed out.

"If you are on the same level as Raph, then I'm sorry but I gotta say you are the one with the problem." Suddenly I got that strange feeling on the back on my neck, surely when I turned around I saw April and Donnie staring at me briefly from his 'lab' before quickly turning the other way.

"See! She's turning Donnie!" Mikey just lifted his eyebrow and shrugged it off.

"He just found someone who speaks geek." He reasoned.

"She's the enemy I tell you!" I yelled, I knew that I shouldn't let her get to me like this.

"Raph's right, I think you are jealous." Mikey smirked.

"I'm not jealous! What happened with stooping to Raph's level?" I said for arguments sake.

"He shows brief moments of intelligence."

"You know I can hear you from here." Raphie growled from the living room.

"I'm not jealous." I muttered.

"Sure you are, don't worry April's cool but as long as she can't do a double summersault, jump rooftops and knock out a grown man with a single punch she's got nothing on you Pinky."

"I'm still not jealous." I mumbled.

"You should still tell master Splinter about the offer you got from the professor about that little school." He whispered. That was the second time I almost choked.

"What!" I yelled, that earned me a look from Raph. I waited until he stopped watching our conversation before pulling Mikey by his ninja mask towards the dojo.

"You know there is a reason I tell you everything! Because you never betrayed me!" I shoved him in the dojo.

"I'm not betraying you!" he lifted his hands in surrender.

"You're taking her side." I whispered/yelled back and poked him in the chest.

"There are not sides! She just has a point, if you get an education you can get out of here, you can get a life!" he argued back.

"You guys are my life!" I said.

"For now!" he yelled, I was stunned that he yelled at me. He took advantage of that and continued. "How many adults do you find living at home?! Don't you ever wanna do something else than live here? Master Splinter saved you not to keep you in the sewers forever Pinky! If it's possible why not find a better life?"

"But I don't want another life!" I yelled back, his words, he made sense but the words hurt more than anything. "I want to stay with you!" I yelled.

"I don't mean that you won't see us again you dolt!" he laughed and pulled me in a tight hug. "I mean, if I could I'd wanna go to artschool, be a professional skater … that sort of things, find a girlfriend start a family. For you it's possible, you can have a better future and we would all be very sad if you didn't do what you wanna do because we're holding you back." He said as he rubbed my back.

"I don't know anything about humans, I don't know what I wanna do." I admitted, I never thought about the future. But he was right, I always thought I was gonna stay here, with them. I never really thought about the future, but if I could get a good job I could help them out too.

"I know you're scared Pinky but that has never stopped you before right?" he held onto my arms as he stepped away and looked into my eyes. It hurt to admit, but maybe O'neil was right.

"I'll think about it." I said, he smiled and ruffled my mess of a hair around.

"You know if you want I can try to cut it for you, I just feel it in my shell, I'm a born hairdresser. And darling I just know the perfect look for you!" he said dramatically.

"No thanks." I smiled, thankful for the comic relief. "I'm gonna talk to Splinter about this." I said.

"You don't have to, you know. I just wanted to make sure you didn't shoot the idea in the face because you're too stubborn to admit April could be right about something." He said and I had to hold my anger in check.

"I'm not stubborn." I bit, which kind of seemed to prove his point. He threw me a look but decided to let it go though.

"Come on Mario-cart time!" he said and pushed me to the living room where we got again another weird look from Raph.

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><p>Again sorry for the late update! I posted another short Theng Sjen story recently, it had just 3 chapters and I originally planned to post it here but it didn't really contribute to the story line I'm following now and it somehow seemed to make the story too dark. So if you want check out "Unmentionable Crime"<p>

As always thank you for reviewing : bluebacon, GadgetCid, BurnedSpy, zrexheartz and DJfire


	34. Bonding

**The Little Turtle.**

_"I don't care where I get hurt, as long as my injuries are visible." (Fairy Tail - Gray Fullbuster)_

34) Bonding

I normally don't really care much for my looks and I never ever thought I would say this but my hair is a mess! The terrible lighting in our makeshift bathroom made it seem worse than it probably is. I can't go out like this! How un-ninja-ish of me, I sound like a teenage drama queen. But seriously how I ever fooled myself thinking I did an alright job fixing my hair I don't know! It's uneven, shorter left then right, uptop short hair that sticks out to every direction and lower a few surviving long strands which I didn't dare evening out.

It would take months to grow into something remotely decent. I missed the way it flowed behind me as I swirled through the air, or the way I could use it as a weapon when I braided it. I ran my fingers through the short strands, sure the knots were all gone but still … I sighed. I just wore my hoodie as much as I could and ignored Raph and Mikey's banter during training.

I heard the door open and I quickly pulled my hood back on, I turned around and I saw it was O'neil. I had done my best to avoid her for the last couple of days, seems like she finally cornered me.

"Hey." She greeted, I just nodded at her. "I'm sorry about what happened." She said meaning my hair of course.

"Yeah, so?" I honestly tried to sound friendly … alright maybe I didn't try that hard.

"I was wondering if you want some help? I used to cut my brother's hair, my mom taught me." she said. Part of me really wanted to tell her I didn't need her help, but Mikey's you're too stubborn speech was still fresh in my head. So reluctantly I nodded and pulled off my hood. I gotta hand it to her, she didn't laugh once. Which was a quite a feat cause the static caused by the fabric made me look like a kitty who'd just been blow dried.

"It's not so bad you know, I've seen worse." She said, she grabbed a box and made me sit.

"I seriously doubt it." I saw her smile at me in the old broken mirror, I have to admit she sucked up my hostility like a pro.

"When we were smaller my sister, Robin, tried to cut her hair, she wanted it shorter. But half way through mom found out." April first combed through the mess of hair, the feeling reminded me of when we were little and Mikey used to play with my hair.

"I know you heard what I said the other day and I am sorry if I offended you." She started cutting.

"It's alright." I said, I wasn't really allowed to fight with her, though I AM still angry about the stuff she said.

"I wasn't my place and I didn't …" she just continued like she didn't hear me.

"… just forget about it alright?" I sorta snapped, I saw her look kinda sad in the mirror, damn sensitive girls.

"I think you are really brave." She said after a moment of silence, "Mikey told me that you had to fight against someone that hurt you before." She all but whispered, she had this haunted look in her eye. I thought about how terrified she was when she first got here. She sort of knew what it felt like to go up against an enemy who felt no mercy, to fear, run and fight for your own life. I felt like a douche, suddenly I couldn't bring myself to be angry anymore. I put so much of my energy into hating her that I missed how much we had in common.

"It's nothing, it's what we do." I said out lack of something better to say. I watched the strands of black hair fall to the floor.

"Thank you by the way, for checking on my house and getting me some clean clothes." She said after she shook, quite literally, the sad look off her face. I realized then that this woman was a whole other kind of brave then I was used to. For the first time since I've known her I felt like a little kid.

"You don't have to thank me." I said, I saw her smile at me in the mirror. Before she insisted upon thanking me again, because she is stubborn like that, I changed the topic. "It must be hard being away from your family and friends."

"Not exactly." She said it so calmly, she said she had a brother and a sister why wouldn't she miss them? Oh crap maybe they passed away or something.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized quickly but she laughed when she saw my panicked look.

"They aren't death." she smiled and snipped some more hair away " We just live too far apart. I haven't seen my sister for a year, we get together on holidays and all but she's off being adventurous in Europe. We write each other, but it isn't the same."

"I can't imagine being away from my family." I admitted.

"Yeah, you're all very close." She said as another strand of hair fell to the ground.

"We are all we have."

"You're lucky, not every family gets along like you guys do." I wanted to say that we all fight from time to time, hell Leo and Raphie battle more against each other then they do against the PD's. But that's the point of family isn't it? Despite differences and grudges, sticking together no matter what.

"Yeah, I know …" She nodded and continued cutting.

"Thank you by the way for doing this for me." I whispered as I gestured to my hair.

"You don't have to thank me." She smiled and send me a knowing look, alright I admit it she isn't all that bad.

"I know I haven't always been fair towards you, so I'm sorry for acting like a jerk." I peeked up at her.

"You didn't, I understand." she whispered. "You are all very protective of each other and I probably could have handled the first meeting with your brothers a little better. It wasn't fair to your brothers, they really are great guys. Still I'm happy that you looked after me at first I can be a bit hysterical when I'm scared." I smiled, I probably would be scared too if I woke up in a strange with strange creatures after being hunted down by a bunch of crazy ninja's.

"No problem." Come on open up a bit, after a few minutes the silence was becoming a bit uncomfortable. "I was scared too you know, the guy who attacked me. It's scary going up against someone who is so empty ..."

"… inhuman." She finished and I looked at her.

"Yeah, I had nightmares when I was a kid. I wasn't even doing anything wrong, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time … I was ten years old and he pulled a gun on me because I had seen or heard something I shouldn't." I said, she paused too.

"I'm sorry." She said and squeezed my shoulder in comfort. "I know what that's like." She whispered.

"Gotta say, feels good to put that demon to rest. After kicking his ass I won't be getting nightmares anytime soon." I tried to put a lighter note on our conversation.

"I wish I could say the same." She said and gave me a small smile. "Anyway, look what do you think?" she motioned to the mirror.

"Wow, you should change your career, there are way too much scientists anyway, thanks April." I beamed. She had evened everything out and kept my bangs, but in such a way that it all went together!

"No problem, it's what friends do." I turned around to face her.

"I've never had a girl friend before." I admitted.

"Well before these couple of weeks I never had turtle friends before, things change." she smiled and fluffed my hair up a bit. She frowned as she saw the stubborn pluck of hair that refused to fall in line, I was glad that it had survived.

"Oh I have the cutest butterfly pins you can borrow !" she said after a few futile tries to tame my bangs, I almost laughed at the childish way she bounced up and down.

"Things don't have to change that much." I smirked, Raph would try to exorcise me if he found me near anything remotely girly. "Oh and come to the dojo at noon tomorrow, I have the perfect remedy against nightmares." I winked and grinned.

"I'd like that." She said.

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><p>Thank you again for all those who reviewed ! BurnedSpy, zrexhearz, Savvywolf and mchap1154.<p> 


	35. Schooling and Misunderstandings

**The Little Turtle.**

_"What you know is dangerous to your enemy, what you think you know is dangerous to you." (Master Splinter - TMNT 2012)_

35) Schooling and Misunderstandings

Lately Raph has been sneaking out quite a lot, not that it was anything new. The freaky part was that he came home smiling. April being a romantic, fantasized that he rescued his soulmate and went to see her every night since then. The truth would turn out to be frightfully similar. Mikey of course not being able to keep his nose out of Raphie's business followed him one night. Normally I would be the first to go along with his plans but I had to agree that Raph deserved some privacy, that and I had class.

With the permission of my father I was now a student at the little school the professor started up. The first time was so frightening. I had never, besides on a few occasions while fighting, been completely surrounded by humans before. Leo and Donny had come with me and watched from the shadows. I imagine walking in a cage filled with dangerous animals would feel like this, all their eyes were turned on me and I had to circle around myself a couple of times to make sure nobody attacked. Even though these people are just as much outcasts of society as I am, they are fiercely protective of their privacy and most of them prefer the solitude. The strange atmosphere got tenser as I trespassed further into their domain. I noticed they dared to come closer to me as I ventured further away from 'society'.

I didn't really blame these people for hating trespassers, after all they didn't know me and what my business was. For all they knew I was a purple dragon. The whispers intensified and more people seemed to be around. Luckily the professor spotted me and pulled me along the rest of the way, shooing away people and assuring them I wasn't here looking for trouble. Apparently he held some sort of status in these people's eyes.

The lesson was interesting, the professor was amazed at what I did know and bumped me up a couple of grades. Donnie's teachings seemed to have paid off, I also knew a fractions of the stuff my nerdy brother often ranted about but I soon learned not to mention that to my new teacher. I would be at the receiving end of lectures and hypotheses about forces beyond my kin … literally. It's quite creepy how alike the two of them are. The professor even asked to meet my genius brother but I quickly came up with a lame-ass excuse about him being sickly and being confined to his room, a great friendship had been wasted there.

I was making my way through camp again and it wasn't any easier then the first time. In fact now it was a lot harder because Leo and Donnie weren't here to have my back. Come on stop watching me! I thought as I saw the men stopping whatever they were doing and tracing my every move. Just pretend they are purple dragons. Suddenly I sensed someone behind me, just before he could grab my shoulder I intercepted his wrist and flipped him over my shoulder. He landed with a big oompf on a pile of cans in front of me. I turned around to see who else wanted a piece, but the people backed away at my sudden moves, there I was not to be messed with! I thought triumphantly until I noticed the familiar red cap I had admired a few weeks ago.

I realized then I attacked perhaps the only human my age who didn't seem to think I was a freak. "Daren! Oh I'm so sorry!" I rushed to him and helped him up. "Are you hurt? Gomenasai!" I bowed out of habit but he seemed confused by my actions and brushed off my apologies.

"It's not bad, damn, I'll be feeling that tomorrow!" he cracked his back and stretched. "That was awesome! You got some moves there!" he smiled and collected his cap. I smiled at his enthusiasm, doesn't this kid get angry?

"Thanks, are you sure you are alright?" Normally I would be like suck it up, but I already owed this kid for hurting his feelings the last time we met. Plus he's the only human my age who didn't act like a total douche.

"Teach me that move and you're forgiven." He said, he probably didn't mean it but I actually thought it was a great way to make amends. I had given April a few pointers on self-defense earlier that week and she seemed to really appreciate it.

"Deal! I'll teach you how to flip me and we're even." He seemed a bit startled at my suggestion but smiled nevertheless and held out his hand.

Hesitantly I took his hand which he gave one firm shake "We got a deal." He smiled. I didn't notice it at the time but the minute Daren was by my side the stares didn't bother me anymore.

When I got home later that evening Leo and Raph where fighting, I almost smiled at the normalcy of that situation. I noticed Mikey and April sitting on the couch and following the fight with curious eyes. I jumped between them.

"What's the dirt?" I whispered as I joined them in their obvious spying of the two fighting brothers.

"Well Raph has in fact been seeing someone topside." April whispered and winked at Mikey, who busted out laughing.

"Oh the star-crossed lovers of Manhattan!" he exclaimed dramatically. This I wasn't expecting, Raph had a girl? I was instantly impressed, any girl fierce enough to look through the layer of manly crap to the real Raph was good in my book.

"What do you know? You were right." I said to April who had predicted a damsel in distress was in play.

"Not quite." Mikey laughed and pointed to the fight, shushing us like he was watching one of master Splinter's episodes of 'Days of our Lives'. I frowned but decided to watch the fight.

"… thinking Raph?!" Leo yelled and circled the fuming Raph. Of course Leo wouldn't like Raph seeing someone.

"Give it a rest Leo! It's just one …" Raph started but was immediately interrupted by our oldest brother, which only made him all that more furious.

"… doesn't matter! He's a liability! You said so yourself he's got history with the Purple Dragons!" Leo circled Raph while yelling.

"HE?" I squeaked, Mikey busted out in laughter.

"You should see your face!" he giggled while holding his belly.

"Raph has been seeing a guy?" I verified, I looked at April who seemed very disappointed that her dramatic love story hadn't been taking place. I smiled at Mikey, who was still laughing and shoved him. Well I must still give this mystery guy some credit, if some human could make Raph fight against Leo they must be good friends already.

"Thun thun thun! Join us next week for the season finale!" Mikey joked.

"… And don't think I can't hear you guys, when I'm done kicking LEONARDO's butt you guys are next!" Raph yelled.

"Damn, we were just joking, you have to admit it's pretty funny Raph." Mikey laughed, Raph abandoned his argument with Leo and chased our youngest brother off the couch. Leo came to join us and let his head fall in his hands, much like a parent of an adolescent teen would do.

"Is it really that bad?" April wondered.

"It's just the timing that's bothering me. With you and Thanny's friend now this Casey guy and the purple dragon's activity, not to mention the foot …. Aaahh!" he yelled, if he had hair he would have pulled it out. I rubbed his arms and tried to pry his hands from his face.

"Come on Leo, you worry too much. April's cool, Daren and the professor have been great. And if you want I could trail this Casey person if you're that worried, or you could meet him yourself? If Raph trusts him, he can't be a bad guy, you know how Raph is with humans he's almost as bad as I am." Leo took a couple of calming breaths and slowly released his head.

"I know not having total control over the situation is a bit scary especially with all that danger hanging above our heads but you have to admit that some more people on our side can't hurt." I looked up at him. He let his shoulders hang, which was usually an indication of him giving in. I smiled as he just nodded and got up to the dojo.

"I'm gonna see if Mikey's still alive." I said as I felt April on the couch.

I found my brothers still chasing each other but it had turned from lethal to almost playful. I could see it from the lack of menace in Raph's eyes that the worst had passed. I winked at Mikey, we knew how to handle our big brothers.

"So how was your day?" Donnie asked as he ventured out of the safety of his lab. I smiled and he listened attentively as I told him everything about what I'd learned that day.

I never thought it would turn out this way but I had the greatest fun with Daren, he's enthusiasm and playfulness had me smiling almost the entire time. The professor had been alternating between teaching me the basics and helping Daren with his more advanced homework. Class turned out to be one of my favorite things.

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><p>My usual apologies for taking so long!<p>

And a thanks to the reviewers: CowabungaBooyakasha, zrexheartz, inujisan, comicgeek, BurnedSpy and mchap1154.

Of course a thanks to everybody who favorited, follows and reads this story. :)


	36. Casey Jones

**The Little Turle**

_'Men are onions, many layers and all of them make you cry.' (Holo - Spice & Wolf)_

36 ) Casey Jones.

Raph had gotten to know a human of his own, one that according to Mikey was terrifying similar to him. They all had to come to the two hothead's aid a couple of days earlier, because apparently Casey had beaten up one too many purple dragons and had gotten in way over his head. I decided that I would at least give him a chance, April and I got along quite well nowadays and he doesn't sound like a bad guy. She was sitting on the couch with Mikey watching some chick flick, Donnie was tinkering with some controls for a surveillance camera in the warehouse, where Raph and Leo were working on Raph's bike. Well Raph worked, Leo handed him stuff.

My bro's sometimes let Casey tag along on patrol with them, well technically it is a called training-run but Mikey insisted on identifying themselves as superhero's and superhero's patrol. I haven't joined them the last couple of weeks, master Splinter was drilling some new technique into me. I guess my new hairstyle kinda shocked the bageezus out of him so it was an unwritten rule that I wasn't allowed to go out unless I got this down.

I was surprised when for my first two private lesson he dropped a stack of Donnie's biology books in front of me, it brought back happy memories from when he gave us 'the talk'. It took him ten minutes of stammering and sweating to realize that Donnie had spilled the beans about this fascinating process ages ago. Even Leo who normally wouldn't dream about tricking master Splinter couldn't pass up this opportunity. Mikey just killing me asking one awkward question after the other, it was so hard to keep from laughing.

I shook the smile off my face, there will be time to reminisce over fond childhood memories later. I had to study the weak points in the human body, tendons, nerve endings that stuff. I was told that I wasn't all that bad a student, I had aced every test the professor threw at me so far but it took me days to get through it all, even longer to memorize it properly.

I learned all that master Splinter wanted me to know and memorized every weak spot of the human body. Donnie helped as much as he could, he knew the books by heart by now. It was hard only training in theory, I couldn't really practice this because (thank god) it's forbidden to use on a family member. So Master Splinter got out my old training puppet and had me attack it ferociously with my new technique, I felt kinda stupid though poking a faceless puppet. Master Splinter called the spots pressure points, if I hit these fast and precise enough it will bring more damage to my opponent, cause the muscles to cramp up and if I've really gotten it down paralyze some body parts.

Master Splinter told me that Leo and Donnie had been taught the basics a while ago. But neither Raph or Mikey had the patience to learn it, it's a rather subtle technique and subtle isn't really in their dictionaries. But this was mainly a technique to use on someone bigger and stronger then you, and truthfully for me almost everyone above the age of twelve fits into that category. Master Splinter also assured me that this way of fighting would suit me better, I'm quick and dexterous one of the few advantages of being a human.

I felt along my arm and traced the muscles to find the weak spot, a little bit left of the elbow and right in the crook. It was a little hard to believe that by just hitting these two spots would do any sort of damage. I was suddenly startled out of my concentration when Leo yelled.

"Guy's someone's at our front door calling for Raph, come up for backup in case it's a trap will yah?" he yelled. I heard Mikey and Donnie scurry after him, I looked at master Splinter wondering if I was allowed yet? He nodded, I smiled, bowed and ran after them.

"Awesome the group is complete again." Mikey smiled as he saw me following.

"Take this seriously." Leo whispered as we made it into the warehouse.

"Maybe he's got a date?" Mikey asked while we climbed up the rusty ladder to the warehouse. Leo just threw him an angry glare. Raph was already talking to the girl, well intimidating her more likely.

"Hey isn't that the girl who was with the Purple dragons?" Donnie asked as they came closer to the invader. We all came up behind Raph as a sort of reminder whose turf she was on, she turned a little paler. She was just a little taller than me but somehow seemed younger, her hair was dyed purple and her eyebrows and ears were pierced. I've got to give her some credit though, she was shaking but held her ground quite well.

"Please believe me? How else would I know how to find you? How else would I know your name?" She begged looking Raph straight in the eye, he was just glaring back to see if she would back off or not.

"What does she want?" Leo asked Raph took his time answering he just kept glaring at the girl for a little while more until he was satisfied.

"Our help, according to her Casey's been captured by the PD's and they're gonna end him tonight." Raph growled. It definitely could be a trap, but if we chose to ignore this and Raph's friend was really in danger he would never forgive himself.

"You don't believe her?" Donnie whispered while looking her over. Raph just shrugged.

"You don't think Casey would be stupid enough to stroll alone inside a building filled with angry PD's and blow his cover just to beat them up?" Mikey asked but the tone and smirk on his face said it all.

Raph sighed and slumped like a parent whose teenager had misbehaved again. "Sounds like him." Raph admitted and uncrossed his arms to look at Leo, it was his call after all. Leo just sighed and stepped forward.

It was his time to glare at the girl. "If this turns out to be a trap, there will be consequences." He sized her up for good measure, but again she seemed to hold her ground and stared right back at him. Not in a defiant manner but more like she was prepared to do anything in order to save her friend. I mean it's obvious she's intimidated by us but she's willing to put up with it for the sake of her friend, I smirked and tried to catch her eye I'm starting to like this girl.

"Come on we're wasting time, Casey's not gonna survive long in a room filled with pissed off Purple Dragons." Mikey said and jumped into the battleshell. I followed and sat down in the back, I patiently started taping my fingers, master Splinter advised me to do so as they will be getting some abuse later tonight. Perfect chance to practice my new technique, a whole building filled with rookies, I can hardly wait. It has been way too long since I my last battle.

"Should I be afraid that you are smiling on the prospect of walking into the lion's den?" Donnie said as he passed me, I just smiled at him.

"I've been missing out on a lot of action bro." I admitted, I saw the girl rummage around in a large bag I didn't notice before.

"What are you doing?" I asked, I stood ready to jump in should she pull out some weapon but the only dangerous things she took out where some oversized clothes and dropped them in Mikey's lap.

"Here yah go, change." she ordered and did the same to the rest of my brothers. I nearly laughed my head off as they all wore some gangster, rapper, punk style clothes. But then I hadn't seen my own present yet.

"Uh where is the rest?" I asked as I showed the single scrap of clothing. It was a purple tank top.

"Your pants are fine but you're gonna have to change your shirt, it stands out too much." I looked down at my green and yellow t-shirt over hoodie formation, I was told that t-shirts normally go underneath the hoodie. Daren teases me constantly about my chose of clothes. But it was the only thing that resembles turtle skin and plastron. "Casey didn't tell me about you coming along so we have to improvise here." she continued, I shrugged and changed my clothes. "You're gonna have to get rid of that headband too." She said as if she would take it by force I stepped back and held one hand firmly between us.

"Ninja mask and no way." I crossed my arms.

"Just do it Thanny, you're gonna stand out otherwise." Leo said, it was hard to take him serious with that lame getup he was wearing but after a glare I complied.

"Fine" I wrapped it around my wrist instead. That way I could cover up at least one of my two chains, the other one I had wrapped around my waist, like a wannabe-gangster belt. The shirt hardly reached below my belly button, I tried to tug it down as much as possible but that revealed more of my cleavage. I wisely chose naked stomach over boobs popping out.

We just walked into the place, which was a bit out of our comfort zone. The place was pretty big they had a fighting ring in the middle and a whole lot of guys surrounding it yelling at the fighters.

"So what's the plan fearless?" Raph asked as we gathered in a corner. But Hun interrupted him by yelling loudly through a microphone.

"Purple Dragons! Tonight I have a real treat for you! The winner of tonight's cage match will get the opportunity to finish off one of our enemies." The crowd went wild when they lowered a stretcher with a human attached to it from the ceiling.

"Casey!" Raph yelled, Leo stopped him from pulling out his sai's and cutting his friend free right then and there.

"Not now Raph" he said. He ordered Mikey and Donnie to go up with Angel to free Casey , Raph and Leo went to enter the cage to attract their attention and I well I had to stick to the background and act as backup should anything go wrong, which probably will. I smirked I could hardly wait, I traced my arm again finding the right spots to hit. I watched the cage match, it was hard keeping track of my bro's when they looked like everyone else. But soon only two were left standing and I cheered cause it could only be them.

Mikey and Donnie freed Casey as all hell broke loose, Raph had somehow lost his shirt and was now standing as a clearly not-human being among a bunch of pissed off guys. The rest of the crowd gathered around the cage were screaming ferociously when they overcame their initial shock. My brothers were very skilled fighters but they could not deal with an army of armed purple dragons on their own.

"It's those freaks get them!" Someone yelled and they all grabbed for their weapons as they made their way for the cage.

Guess the time for under-cover is over I loosened my mask and tied it to its rightful place and quickly wrapped the second chain back around my arm. I kicked one huge guy behind the knees so he tipped over, taking a couple of guys with them then I pushed off on his back and jumped on the shoulders of a woman standing not far from me. I made my way over the crowd , twirling my chain skillfully around me. I managed to hit a dozen of them in the back of the heads and they went down instantly. I landed in front of the entrance of the cage. I twisted my left chain around and waited. The message was clear no one gets through.

"Move pipsqueak." One guy with blue hair yelled. They came at me with two at once I threw my chain at the biggest guys legs, which caused him to trip and hit his head quite hard on the floor. The other guy had a wooden bat which I avoided. As his arm swung next to me I remembered my new training, alright practice time. I pressed the spot directly next to his elbow, nothing. Damn chance past, the guy swung again, I ducked under him and instead punched him in the solar plexus. He groaned and doubled over I kicked him away from me. I had just barely time to regain my fallen chain as now three came at me.

I flicked the chain up and altered its coarse so it knocked the knife out of some girls hand and twisted my chain so it would crash into their heads had they not ducked. Still the whoosh of the chain made one guy stop in his attempt. That left still two approaching treats. I twisted the chain around my arm again and got ready to face off two opponents.

This time with the girl I got the elbow pinch right and her arm cramped up after two more pokes, she screamed in surprise and clutched her arm. I figured out the problem, I had to put more force behind my pokes to get through the thick muscles. I doubt it would work on the men here, most of them are ridiculously buff. Alright, the guy tried a sloppy phoenix kick, which I ducked and I quickly delivered a few stabs at where I knew the tendons where, a lot harder this time, determent to get some results.

I flipped to avoid a punch, I tried attacking with my knuckles next. My fingers were hurting from all the poking and I could put a lot more power behind the attack like this. Eventually I did something right and the guys leg cramped up. He didn't give up so easily though No prob, I just flicked my chain at the half paralyzed guy and used it to block the crowbar the other one was swinging at my head. I turned my body and using my back I flipped him over, he crashed into the bars of the cage before landing head first to the ground.

Auch I won't be doing that again, that guy was a lot heavier then he looked. I noticed Donnie and Mikey helping Leo and Raph fight Hun who had snuck into the cage earlier. I also saw Angel and Casey lending me a hand a couple of feet away taking out the remaining dragons.

I heard someone come up behind me and I ducked to avoid the obvious blow to the head. I swung my leg backwards but he jumped over it, I managed to roll out of the way before he brought his leg down. He had long blue hair tied into a pony tail and a metal contraption on his right shoulder. Besides him and the two guys Casey and Angel were taking on there wasn't anyone left.

"You got some nerve little girl, to come onto our turf looking for trouble." He taunted and flexed his muscles a bit.

"Yeah, cause you guys are all about manners." I whipped some sweat off of my face and got ready. He punched, I side stepped it easily though, but when his fist reached the wall he managed to put a crack into it. I was a bit shocked but studied his arm again, obviously the metal thing somehow gave his arm more strength. He smirked at my surprise and came at me again, I flipped out of the way and landed on some crates. Which he smashed to pieces, but I jumped over him and landed behind him. I kicked his leg from under him and he crashed to the ground. From this position he tried to do the same to me but I jumped back.

He had flipped himself back on his feet and was coming at me, I had to watch out for that right arm, it may be slower but I have a feeling that even a graze of that thing could prove to be fatal. He punched and kicked and got more frustrated when I avoided them all, master Splinter had drilled this into me from ever since I could remember, ninja 101. Finally he got tired, I could tell that his muscles in his right arm were exhausted from holding up all that metal, instead he now punched with his left fist.

I smiled, this is what I've been waiting for, I pushed as hard as I could on the places where the main arteries laid in his arm, not so long after he clutched said arm while it trembled uncontrollably.

"You bitch!" he snarled and tried to kick, I tried to do the same to his tendons in his legs but I failed. Damn, well can't get this right all the time. Instead I punched him in the solar plexus and as he doubled over I got him again right in the nose. He wasn't out cold but he won't be getting up anytime soon.

I looked over to my brothers, they had Hun almost under control and Casey was finishing off the last purple dragon. He had a weird style of fighting, he reminded me of a cave man swinging around his bat like that. He just delivered the final blow to the guy he was fighting and he looked over to me.

"Hey behind yah!" he yelled, I heard some metallic screeching and saw the guy from before getting back on his feet.

"Stay down." I said, there is no honor in fighting an injured warrior. Well I don't know if I should class him up to warrior but the bushido code sort of applies to him too.

"Fuck you!" he yelled while spitting out some blood, he tried to grab at me with his metal arm but I twirled out of the way already preparing a counter attack, he stumbled clumsily past me. He turned around to charge at me again, the counter attack was already formed and analyzed in my head. I smirked as I was about to finish him off but something struck him from behind and he fell unconscious before he hit the ground.

The person who delivered the final blow was Casey, I guess he wanted to help me. He had long black hair that hung almost to his shoulders and bright blue eyes. I thought he was quite handsome, muscles on his muscles as he threw his baseball bat all macho like over his shoulder. I could feel my cheeks heat up.

"T-Thanks" I stuttered a bit.

"Yeah, I got him good." he boasted with an absurd grin on his face seemed to lower his IQ like 50 points.

"Excuse me?" Had he not seen my part of the fighting?

"Good thing I was around huh? A little girl like you might get hurt. Just stay with me alright, I'll take them purple dragons, GOONGALA!" he threw his fist in the air as he yelled meaningless words, I could feel all the butterflies in my stomach die one by one. I clenched my fist, was this guy for real? I'm a ninja damnit not some damsel ! I was protecting him not the other way around!

"Yeah good thing I was here right? I took down most of them for yah." He boasted, he maybe the cutest guy I've ever seen but when he opens his mouth it's clear there is only one brain cell in there swimming in testosterone. Don't punch him, don't punch him went like a mantra through my head.

I looked around and saw that I had taken down about twice the amount that he has. How is this loser anything like my brother?

"Hey guys, ready to go?" Mikey yelled and motioned for us to get into the battleshell Donnie had magically summoned with his remote.

"Right behind yah bro." I sprinted after Mikey and 'accidentally' almost slammed the door in Casey's face.

"Don't mind him, he doesn't really have a filter between his brain and his mouth." Angel said as she sat beside me.

"He has a brain?" I said before I could stop myself, but she didn't take offense at me being mean to her friend. She just smiled at me and I just knew the two of us were going to get along famously.

"So Angel I don't think I've met your friend before, why don't you introduce us?" Casey asked and nodded to me.

"Nah, Case this is my little sis Thanny, Thanny meet Casey Jones." I ignored Raph, I threw an angry glare at Casey and turned around, it may have been childish but I really didn't feel like putting up with that guy anymore.

"Auch you said like what two things to her and you already pissed her off, nice going ladiesman." Mikey joked.

"You can keep the shirt by the way." I heard Angel say. I looked down and saw a few blood splatters on there.

"Oh sorry." I smiled sheepishly.

"No big deal, besides you look better in it than I do. And don't listen to bonehead over there, he's an idiot most of the time but all around a great guy if you ignore half the things he says." She said and her gaze went to Casey for a moment.

"Yeah well, I'll give him a chance. My brothers seem to like him." I was really starting to regret my decision to give this Neanderthal a chance.

"You talking about me pretty ladies?" Mikey joked as he sat across from us. Leo was driving as Donnie bandaged some of Casey's more serious wounds.

"Oh yes Mikey you are so dreamy." I put my hand to my head and fluttered dramatically like a princess.

"Don't I know it." he laughed and folded his hands behind his head.

"So saw you taking out a couple PD's with your awesome new technique, you looked kinda like Xena you know?" I rolled my eyes, he and his Xena obsession.

"Yeah, what the hell was that, I saw you touch one guy and he like dropped to the ground." Angel said.

"Pressure points." I said and blew on my two fingers like holding a gun.

"Wow, Casey better watch his ass next time." Angel laughed.

"Why?" Mikey asked, leaning on his knees as to hear the gossip better.

"Oh he was cavemanning about how well she fought for a girl and bragging about the two guys he took out." Angel said and laughed, I was kind of glad she witnessed the scene so I didn't come off as a complete ass.

"Oh, I know how much you hate that. First impressions don't seem to be his forte. Well if it's any consolation Pinky you could definitely take him." He said with an evil grin.

"I know." I smirked and imagined myself with one foot on an unconscious Casey Jones while the crowd cheered wildly.

"No seriously, you should like paralyze his face or something." he joked. There was a huge yell from the back. And our heads snapped to the abrupt sound.

"GOONGALA, GOONGALA !" Casey was retelling his side of the story to Raph, still hyped up from his near death experience. Donnie was trying in vain to wrap a bandage around his arm while Casey was flailing said arm around.

"Don't tempt me."I whispered.

* * *

><p>I am terribly sorry about to slow updates !<p> 


	37. Laughing Matters

**The Little Turtle.**

_' A day without laughter is a day wasted.' (Charlie Chaplin)  
><em>

37) Laughing Matters.

I was trying to read up on my history, because of recent hectic activities involving battling purple dragons, foot soldiers or both at once, I had gotten terribly behind on my assignments. I was getting nowhere; the reading was difficult and not all that interesting, I concluded after having read the same sentence three times without managing to grasp it's meaning. Also it was proving difficult to read with only one good eye, the image often slipping out of focus when I wasn't paying attention. Thank you foot soldier number 3 for that punch in the face! Although a lucky shot, it hadn't made the punch any lighter, stupid amateurs where too damn unpredictable.

"That's a nice one!" Mikey exclaimed while he pointed to the shiner I now sported. My bruises never were visible the night of the fight, thank GOD cause that's when Dr Donnie goes over every single one of our boo-boos and auchies. He has a tenancy to go a little overboard with the ointments and bandages when he finds but a scrape on us. 'You have NO idea what kind of filth thrives in the sewers, just be glad you don't have a microscope, ignorance really is bliss.' He would say while nagging out ears off about being more careful despite the fact that his injuries weren't much better than ours.

I tried to glare at my brother but the black eye made it kind of hard. I was kind of happy he came to find me though, it gave me an excuse to put the history book down.

"I can top that though." He said while jumping on my bed so all the books I borrowed from Daren propelled around knocking over anything in their path. "Check this out!" he lifted his arm, ignoring my glare yet again, and a huge red-ish mark was visible on his biceps. I whistled in amazement.

"How did you manage to get past Don with that one?" I looked up at him after examining the bruise close up.

"I distracted him with my other arm." He said and showed his left bandage covered appendage. I smiled knowingly, between Leo and Don I honestly couldn't tell which was the bigger mother hen.

"I have an even better one though." I said and flipped myself to my feet. I pulled up my sweater a bit and showed him my back. I got that a few nights back an admittedly not so lucky shot by a now very hospitalized purple dragon.

"Dude, that's old." He said and blew my injury off.

"Hey, if anything I should get points for that, can you imagine what it was like fresh?" he seemed to think it over but decided himself the winner altogether.

"So yer gonna skip class later?" he asked changing the subject, while he watched me clean up the books HE had thrown about.

"No, why should I?" I said as I reached under the bed for the copy of mathematical problems II.

"Don't you think yer boyfriend is gonna be asking questions about how you got that eye?" I heard him tease from atop the bed. He managed to poke my head through the matras. Good thing I remembered on time that I was still squatting down under my bed, otherwise I'd have a nice bump on my head to go along with my eye.

"Hey, he is NOT my boyfriend alright?" I punched the place he was sitting from underneath the bed. "Secondly I'll just tell him the truth." I said as I crawled out. Gross I thought as I looked down to see my shirt completely covered in dust and grime.

"You'll tell him what, 'Hey sweety! Last week my ninja turtle brothers and I invaded the purple dragon HQ to save a vigilanty?' yeah actually you should open with that." He smirked.

"Actually yeah,I was gonna tell him, there is nothing wrong with what we did? Not like he's gonna go rat us out." I said as I dusted off his book. Somehow lying to Daren seems wrong, I felt guilty enough not being able to tell him about my family.

"Oh, boy you got it bad." He said I swatted him with the book.

"I have nothing bad! He's just my friend and I'm a horrible liar anyways. I mean what else am I gonna say, I tripped on the stairs and landed on my face?"

"Something like that."

"You can't be serious, I'll come off like such a dork. I'm a ninja dammit not some damsel in distress!"

"You sure get worked up a lot over nothing." He gave me a pointed look that I couldn't stand. But getting more upset would only prove his point.

"Jerk" I mumbled. To which he poked me in the side.

"Real mature. Trust me as a guy, he'll be less intimidated by you when he isn't aware you can kick his ass in five different fighting styles."

" Wasn't it you who told me always to be myself?" I countered as I collected the stuff I needed for class in a patched-up backpack.

"Of course you should, but let him get used to Thanny first before you begin kicking ass."

"He already knows I can fight, I saved his grandfather after all and I sort of threw him over my shoulder once …" I noticed Mikey holding his head in defeat, " ... it was an accident alright!" I defended, "I said sorry." it happened the first time I went to class, Daren came up behind me while I was being paranoid and yeah ... he grabbed my shoulder and I send him flying.

"Well he's still around right? Which means he's either an idiot or prone to masochism, or both." I threw him an angry glance when he called Daren an idiot, but I swallowed what I was going to say. Didn't want to poor oil on the fire.

"So what should I say to him?" I asked in defeat.

"Tell him you walked into a door or something." he said, not all that interested anymore while he browsed through my collection of comic books.

"That's lame." I pointed out and flopped next to him on my bed.

"You could borrow April's make up." He teased.

"Ssshht ! You dork!" I held my hand over his mouth and listened for any girlish screams or squeals, after a couple of seconds I released my brother and slapped him over the head. "You're lucky, if April even hears mention of one of those girlish things she'll drag me off and torture me with them." I said and shuddered a bit thinking about it

"You're such a drama queen." He said and pushed me off, "Seriously I blame Raph and his girl-phobic ways, if you want to admit it or not you are a girl don't you … you know want to do girl stuff?" he said this as if he really was being serious, which was creeping me out so I decided to just go topside a little earlier before he really did team-up with April and made me wear nail-polish and ribbons and pink miniskirts with unicorns … a ninja's worst nightmare.

"On that creepy note, I'm going topside." I said and walked out of my room leaving my brother sitting on the bed. "I expect you to behave normal again when I return." I yelled as an after though to which he just laughed.

"What did you say Thanny, you're going shopping?!" he yelled, and this time I really did April respond, so I made a run for it.

…

Class was over but it wasn't as much fun as it usually was, Daren hadn't bothered to show up. Which really bothered me cause the professor was obviously expecting him. I was feeling a little worried, maybe he had detention or something? But I quickly wrote off that thought, that goody-two-shoes couldn't get on a teachers bad side even if he tried. Nonetheless I decided to head for the local high-school anyways, I knew he probably wouldn't be there but I had no idea where else to search for him. It was pointless but I figured chances were greater of me running into him there than if I were to random wander around in the city.

I eyed some punks hanging out near the exit of the homeless camp. Maybe Daren had gotten into trouble on the way. I quickly put that thought out of my head. Not a good idea to go over the worst case scenario's. But I checked any alley I passed nonetheless.

Walking along with the 'normal' people instead of jumping the rooftops felt tedious and claustrophobic. It send my instincts into overdrive, constantly having people bump into you, coming up behind you. I knew it was beyond paranoid to think like this but anyone of them could have a weapon or knife hidden somewhere. If one crazy bastard decided to stab you, you'd never see it coming.

A man suddenly appeared in front of me and reached inside his pocket, I panicked. The crowd wouldn't let me back off, and that guy came right at me and was taking something out of his pocket. I flashed back to the night Hun cornered me in the alley and took out a gun in a similar fashion. When it turned out to be just a cellphone the guy was reaching for I slipped into an alley to catch my breath. This is crazy! It's New York of course there are a lot of people on the streets, just get over it dammit! My hands were shaking and the sounds were so deafening it made me sick to my stomach. I looked up to the sky, there was even a fire escape present so escape from this noisy world was so close by.

But giving into fear was not my style. I pulled up my hood, I don't know why but it made me feel safer. I felt for the kunai hidden in my boots, great now you are paranoid and a hypocrite. After breathing calmly for a couple of minutes I decided that I had my nerves back under control. I watched the endless flow of humans for a while before finding an opening and slipping in joining the flow, like cattle in a herd.

It slowed down when I got off the main streets. I came to the conclusion that I probably just went through hell for nothing. Even if Daren had taken that route I could just as easily have missed him in the crowd. When the school came in sight I made a run for the nearest fire escape. Relief coursed through my body as I landed on familiar ground. Joyfully I ran and jumped towards the building right across from the school.

I sat myself down closer enough to the edge to have a nice bird eyed view of the parameter. I wonder what it's really like in there? Kids always seem to complain about going to school, but apart from history I really enjoyed learning. I mean it's like training right? If you don't train you're not getting stronger, if you don't study you stay ignorant … well maybe that's a bit harsh.

I played with my kunai for a while, an hour or so passed and kids suddenly started coming out of the school. Must be the trouble makers who got detention I thought. I searched for Daren but when the last person walked through the doors and I still hadn't spotted my friend I decided to call it quits. It was a long shot to begin with, Daren probably had better things to do than hang out with us in the junkyard. I stood up, dusted off my pants and was about to head for home when I noticed a bright red color out of the corner of my eye … no way. One more person was sneaking off the school grounds.

There he was, his signature red head betrayed his presence like a beacon. I frowned, Daren getting detention? He was the last to leave and it seemed he wanted it like that. He didn't seem to want to interact with the other students at all, maybe he just didn't know them? I wondered. I found myself smiling, I got to hang out with my friend after all and I get to tease him about getting into trouble at school. I slipped my knife back into my boot.

The others who had gathered together at the gate where lighting up their cigarettes, Daren seemed hesitant to pass them. But when he did, the large one suddenly called out to him. I didn't hear what he said but whatever it was it made Daren lower his head just a tiny bit, it made the others laugh and made me want to punch his face through that gate.

I made my way down. I watched the little gang still eying and whispering about my friend. I half wished for them to try something, I'd gladly put them in their place. But unfortunately they went the opposite direction. I send them a final glare, stupid jerk I'll remember your face. I waited until they ceased looking back and followed Daren, I didn't make myself known until we were both well out of sight of those idiots.

I ran up behind him and tapped his shoulder in what I thought was a gently way but it made him flinch like I had popped him a good one on the head instead.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked, taking a step back to give him his space. He turned around quickly when he heard me.

"Thanny?" his eyes wide and unbelieving. "What are you doing here?" he yelled and fidgeted, looking around as if we weren't meant to be seen together. I didn't hold it against him, I could understand if he wanted to avoid further problems with those jerks at the gate.

"I came to find you, you weren't at the junkyard today so … well anyways, you wanna hang out or something?" I asked, stupid I was so worried about finding him that I hadn't at all thought about what I was gonna do or say when I did find him.

"Well … holy ... what happened?" he yelled suddenly and pointed to my face. I was confused at first but remembered he was talking about my eye. I looked at him prepared to give him a horrible excuse when I noticed one of his eyes didn't look as it should either. Because of his dark skin I didn't notice it earlier but now that I paid closer attention there was definitely some swelling starting and even a little cut next to his eye.

"Me?! What the hell happened to you?!" I accused him right back. Now my blood really started boiling ... did those jerks … I clenched my hand and fought the urge to hunt those bastards down. Daren chose that moment to start laughing like someone was tickling him without mercy.

"What's so damn funny?" I asked, still pissed off at finding my friend hurt. He didn't stop, he was near hysterics.

"ju ju just … I … and and and … you …." He couldn't stop laughing but I found it contagious and joined him. I could understand why he'd find it funny, the both of us kind of ashamed of our eye, probably making up the same lame excuses. It was stupid and definitely not funny at all but we were both of us idiots so we laughed.

"Wanna go to the park?" he asked after he got control over the random laughing frenzy.

"Yeah sure." I smiled and joined him, I noticed not for the first time that with him my paranoid attacks weren't all that bad.

We sat on the swings and quietly watched the other people going about their business.

"So what's your story?" he asked as he pointed to my eye. "… and don't give me the I-fell-down-the-stairs excuse." He interrupted me, I glared at him a bit but he gave me a knowing look.

"I can't tell you." I said, deciding that I really didn't want to lie to him.

"s'cool." He said but he didn't sound okay with it at all.

"I know it's unfair for me to know how you got yours." I whispered and watched his reaction carefully. He managed to look sad and angry at the same time. "I saw those guys laughing at you, did you get in a fight or something?" the question popped out before I could think better of it.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that." I said.

He started swinging again but seemed deep in thought.

"No big deal actually, it's so mainstream its boring actually. The nerd getting bullied by the big popular guys." I didn't know what to say to this.

"I try to stand up but it's hard you know, it got kind of bad today and I got in a fight with Jason. Well I don't know if I'd call me getting pummeled a fight but …" he sighed, "I just wish that I could hurt him back for once, you know." He looked at me and I smiled.

"I understand." I said, and I really did. Being the little girl made me the target often enough in our battles and it's only through extensive daily training I can handle it, but those times few times that I get hurt or lose it is really humiliating and frustrating, even if my bro's always have my back. Knowing that for reasons you can't control you have to lose to some guy. I thought back to my ten year old self fighting against Hun, how scared and helpless I had been. "I was in a fight too." I said honestly.

He looked at me and was at loss for what to say, I don't know what kind of idea's I had planted in his head with that last comment but I decided that I would deal with the consequences later.

"I made you a deal a while ago. I think now is a great time for you to collect your favor." I said as I jumped from the swing. I looked over his shoulder to see him with a puzzled look on his face.

"Don't you remember? I threw you over my shoulder and you said you'd forgive me if I taught you how to do that?" it took him a while but he seemed to recall said event.

"Come on." I called and walked to the more sandy area of the playground. I heard him follow, hesitantly. I smiled at him, his careful behavior somehow reminded me of a little duckling.

"Now give me your arm." I ordered.

"Thanny, please don't make me take that dive again." He complained but surrendered his arm anyways.

"I'm just gonna show you what to do." I said and laughed at him for being such a big baby. I showed him where to pull and how to twist your body when you feel the weight of the other person. And after an hour of us tumbling together in the sand he managed to sort of flip me once.

I smiled as he freaked out, thinking he had hurt me. In reality I pushed myself off so to make it easier for him, all he had to do was guide me over his shoulder. I wasn't going to tell him that though, I had the feeling that he wasn't giving it his all out of fear to accidentally injure me.

"There you go." I said and flipped myself back on my feet as I always did. But it seemed to shock him for some reason.

"I have to warn you though, it might work with someone smaller than you ..." I said while gesturing to myself. "… it's a whole other story throwing someone who's larger, so don't go trying that without looking like a fool." he looked at me as if I was insane but nodded anyways.

"Duly noted, master, I'll just knock them out with my karate punch of awesomeness!" he said and held out his fist. I frowned at his weak stance but even more at his wish to mess up his hand. Out of reflex I grabbed it.

"Don't punch with your knuckles, idiot, and get your thumb out of there. This way you'll really do more damage to yourself than anyone else." I said and adjusted his fingers.

He looked at me quite puzzled and I knew I had taken him too seriously.

"How do you know all this stuff anyways?" he asked as he went back to grab his backpack which lay discarded next to the swings.

I flinched and looked down, what do I say? I couldn't think of a good excuse and I didn't want to either. I remained silent and he seemed to catch onto my internal conflict.

"Watched a lot of karate kid huh?" he said and smiled. I beamed at him quite grateful for the way out, though we both knew I was keeping secrets and we were both equally sad about it.

"Something like that."

"Well thank you for the lesson and for teaching it to me without making me wax your car a million times." I laughed, not for the first time it pained me to think just how well he would get along with Mikey. If only he were a turtle.


	38. Close Call

Again my apologies for the late update

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><p><strong>The Little Turtle.<strong>

_'Just because you get help does not mean that you have failed, it just means you're not alone.' (Life as we know it)_

38) Close Call.

"Daren is acting weird." I said seemingly out of nowhere, but because it's Mikey he got on board with my trail of thoughts like only a best friend could. Donnie was busy in his lab, working with April on a 'secret project'. Leo and Raph where duking it out in the dojo under the supervision of master Splinter. I had made sure none of them were within earshot whenever I spoke about my human friend … I didn't exactly know why but Mikey ensured me it was important.

"Weird how?" he asked while he was paging through his comic book.

"Well … ever since last week he … I don't know seems paranoid … like all the time." I complained while doing my math homework.

"Paranoid?" I heard Mikey ask as I focused on my current equation.

"Like he fusses when I show up with a bruise, he's starting to ask questions too … like where I live and why I don't go to school and stuff." I heard Mikey scoff and I look up to find him staring at me like I'm the biggest idiot in the world.

"… what?" I defended.

"What's the last thing the two of you did together?" he asked, "Outside of that school thing of course."

"… well …" truthfully we didn't really hang out, sure in the weekends we meet for classes at the junkyard and sometimes after Daren's finished with school for the day. But outside of that he's either at school or I'm chasing bad guys.

"Exactly, you don't hang out, of course he wants to know more about you Pinky … you're friends aren't you?" Somehow his questioning got on my nerves.

"We do hang out, we went to the park last week and I showed him how to do a back throw." I said as a matter of fact-ly. He choked on his drink and let out one big laugh. I frowned.

"You showed him how to do a back throw?" he laughed trying very hard not to squirt soda through his nose.

I didn't see what he found so amusing, "Yeah and how to punch correctly, because apparently humans are idiots when it comes to self defense." I muttered.

"Well most of them haven't been trained by a ninja master …" I had to give him that one, "… but you basically ended up beating him up? … That poor kid."

" What? No! I just showed him how to … well yeah technically I did throw him a couple of times but he threw me too … once." I muttered. " It's not like training, I'm careful with him." I said to which Mikey laughed again.

"You do realize that's the reason right?" Mikey stated and got back to his comic book.

"What's the reason?"

"You're not like other girls … obviously he just wants to figure you out. If you have a girlf…" I gave him the stink eye and he quickly caught himself, " … for a friend, who shows up with bruises without a clear explanation, in most cases something is up."

"Yeah sure, but he knows I can stand my ground, right? He on the o..." and I shut up, but it was too late.

"What does this kid show up with bruises?"

"I only noticed one, apparently he has a bully problem." Whose asses I'll kick to next week if I ever catch them in the act.

"Thanny, it's not your place to do something about his problems." Mikey warned, reading the murderous vibe I was sending off.

"What? Why the hell not? Don't we bud in into other people's business all the time?"

"Yeah that's different, this isn't life or death, it's just bullies Daren has to learn to stand up to them on his own or he'll be running for the rest of his life."

"That's stupid." I concluded and got back to math.

"You like him." Mikey sang smugly and licked his finger to page through the comic.

"Sure I like him, he's my friend."

"Nah, it's more than that. You LIKE him." He smirked and gave me a knowing look.

"I don't … well he's … just because he's a boy who is my friend doesn't mean we have to be romantically involved! He's just a kid whose presence I tolerate." I stated.

"Yeah right, if any other person came to you sniveling about being bullied you'd smack them around until they stop complaining. Instead you want to defend this kid … I'm telling you Pinky whether you like it or not, you don't just tolerate his presence." I wanted to argue, no way that was true … right? The movies always were very clear about these things.

"… shut up." I said and made a point to ignore him by hiding his smirking stupid face behind my calculus book.

"He likes you too by the way." He said.

"How could you possibly know that? You haven't even met him!"

"Oh please, from what you've told me you've been kicking his ass since you met him, if he hasn't run by now you either dropped him on his head one too many times or he wants to know you … wink, wink." he was enjoying this way too much.

"Me thinks, you've been watching too many chick flicks with April." I said just to get that stupid grin off of his face.

"That might be true, but I balance it out beautifully with plenty of gore and action thrillers."

"Come on nerds head bashing time!" Raph yelled and threw a sweaty towel at Mikey which slapped around his face with a strangely satisfying slap.

Finally! I gathered my books and went to grab my chains. I could use some venting.

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><p>No doubt about it the PD's were obviously rising in numbers ... where do they find all these recruits anyways?<p>

Donny was sowing up a cut in Raphie's biceps, Mikey had gotten dangerously close to losing his head. But fortunately Raph intervened in time.

"Stupid dragons." He muttered, for all his big talk Raph was a little squeamish when it comes to his own blood. It was my job to draw his attention elsewhere and to let him squeeze my hand as hard as he likes. Which at times was pretty hard due to the lack of anesthetic.

"You did alright Raphie, I don't think ugly will ever try that again … or eat anything other than soup for the next couple of weeks." I smiled.

"Damn!" he jerked when Donny jabbed at a particular sensitive part. "Damn! Those jerks, they always go after the little ones." He cursed, I glared at him and Donny jabbed him again, this time not so accidentally. Leo and Raph sometimes dubbed the rest of us 'the little ones', because they stood about a foot taller than us and were slightly more muscularly build they looked like the more formidable foes. Labeling the rest of us the lesser of two evils in a fight, and often causing us to take on most of the PD's who were afraid to go up against the big brothers … that didn't mean we liked that nick name though.

"Yeah, yeah, that's usually how bullies work." I shushed him, "Maybe you should be a little bit friendlier, you know to lure in more customers."

"I'll give them friendly alright." He cursed. "Bro are you embroidin' a quilt or something, hurry up will yah?" he snapped at Donnie but didn't dare to look his way.

"I would if you'd sit still, I don't want to screw this up you know." I smiled at Donnie though he was too focused to catch it.

Donnie was sort of forced into the role of medic, though his interest was more based towards computers and engineering … he's still by far the smartest one among us and seeing that he's the only one who has read a medical book he had taken it upon himself to patch us up when we're hurt.

Which was more often than not lately, Leo was laying on the couch with an ice pack on his shoulder and Mikey although saved by Raph from any serious injuries was taping his elbow which had gotten smacked into the ground somewhere along the night. April was fussing over the both Mikey while Leo was discussing the nights events with master Splinter.

Donnie apart from some minor bruises was fine and I only had a bruise on my back and a little cut on my arm.

"Always the little ones my shell." Donnie muttered and cut away the excess yarn, "Alright almost finished." He said an applied a decent amount of disinfectant and a bandage.

"I'd tell you not to use that arm for a couple of days ..." Donnie wiped away the blood on his hands.

"… but that would be as useful as telling you to shut down yer damned computer." Raph joked and flexed his arm a couple of times.

"Just try not to pull any of the stitches this time." Donnie complained and stored away his home made medical equipment.

"Yeah, yeah see yah fer practice tomorrow, I'm gonna crash." And with a small wave he strolled to his room. Donnie sighed before sagging in his desk chair.

"You know that's Raph for 'Thank you for patching me up bro … I love you.'" I said in a bad impression of Raph's voice.

My genius brother just gave me a small smile in recognition, he looked for all intents and purposes tired.

"Yeah … I know." he sighed.

"You know I've seen you do it a dozen of times, if you ever want me to take over just …"

"… thanks little turtle, but I'm alright. We're just lucky it's only has been stitching so far." He sighed, he had all the tools and the knowledge how to set a bone and from the amount of biology books he has I'm sure he has at least practiced removing a bullet mentally from every possible body part. But that's the problem, theoretic.

The first time one of us needed to be sown up was during sparring, Mikey had gotten cut accidentally by Leo's katana's. Mikey had a giant gash in his leg and Donnie having already prepared for this in his mind jumped forward immediately and pushed the rest of us out of the way.

We were useless then, all of us panicking and freaking out. Even Leo who was supposed to be in charge stood there bloody sword in hand until usually laid back, quiet Donnie pushed him aside and started working like he had done it a dozen of times.

It was only afterwards that he was shocked by the events of that evening.

"You did good, I know it's hard on you to Mcgiver your way through stuff like this but you're doing it." I said and patted him on the shoulder. He grabbed hold of my hand and gripped it for a moment.

"What is it?"

"It was really close wasn't it? Mikey …" and he trailed off. Yeah it had been really close, I pushed aside the what if's … Donnie doesn't need that right now.

"Mikey's fine, Raph had his back." I said, I had to chose my words carefully I wanted to comfort my brother but I didn't want to give him the nothing's going to happen to us crap, because none of us can promise that.

"The depth of that gash, if it had hit him on that trajectory …" he looked down and clutched at his head.

"… hey, hey." I crouched before him and tried to catch his gaze. "… don't think like that, they're alright all of us. Don't haunt yourself with what couldn't have happened."

"It bound to happen sooner or later, a broken arm or a gunshot, maybe a stabbing … it's a miracle it hasn't happened already." He said clinically and he seemed to calm down a bit. The look he gave me didn't sit right with me for some reason.

"Nah, I don't believe in miracles. It's because our training and teamwork is so good, we don't allow each other to get hurt … don't try to shove this on some deity, it's our hard work that makes us come through every time." I grabbed his knees and willed some of my strength into him.

"... it's still going to happen." He said in that detached way again. It made me mad, with a jump I got to my feet and towered over him … or it felt like I did anyways.

"It doesn't matter we'll handle it, it could happen to you as much as any of us so you'd better start sharing some of the weight because I don't think you're gonna like it very much if you're the one in here with the broken arm and you have to rely on either Mikey or Raph to put it back in the right place."

He gave one short, laugh and nodded. "Yeah, you might have a point." He stood up and ruffled through my hair, "Get some sleep little turtle, tomorrow's a school day." He smirked and got to sleep after checking Leo's shoulder.


	39. Fighter at Heart

(This is a sort of review reply to a guest) So someone mentioned in the reviews that I made Thanny curse a couple of times, I checked the chapter again and I couldn't really find anything that I found upsetting or out of character. Thanny also, while being brought up strictly by Splinter, did grew up on the streets and has been fighting gangs since she was young, so she's bound to come into contact with some potty mouths.

Still if you found the language inappropriate, I can respect that, **thank you** for letting me know (cause I'm not from America and where I'm from curse words aren't really frowned upon so much ^^ ) ... so for the record WARNING there will be some curses in this chapter (in most chapters I guess).

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><p><strong>The Little Turtle<strong>

_"Nerd-like Exterior, Fighter at Heart."_

39) Fighter at Heart.

"You seriously have never celebrated your birthday?" Angel exclaimed loudly. A couple of people on the parking lot glanced our way. Daren had bought me a smoothie, I couldn't really refuse because he had one of those two for the price of one coupons. I decided that it was a good idea for Angel and Daren to meet, I sort of hoped that the two of them went to the same high school so that Angel could maybe help Daren out with his bully problem but helas.

They seemed to hit it off though, then again I couldn't really imagine anyone not getting along with Daren. They freaked out when I mentioned that I never had a smoothie before and they completely freaked when I mentioned the lack of birthday parties.

"So what? I bet I've done a lot of things you guys haven't done." I defended and slurped from my smoothie.

Angel nodded, she could imagine the various things ninja-clan born children might experience that outshine birthday parties. But Daren had no clue about my awesome childhood and was left to fill in the blanks but he wound up giving me this pitying look. I suppressed the urge to empty my smoothie on his head.

"Oh right, hold this." He snapped and handed his cup to me while he leaned around himself to search into his backpack.

Angel poked me in the arm hitting a particular large bruise that I had tried to cover up with my sleeve.

"Rough night?" she whispered.

"Yeah." I said quietly not wanting Daren to overhear.

"Foot or purple?" she asked.

"Both." She hissed.

"If you need me to help just say the word, I have mad skills." She said it a joking matter but I could tell that she was serious.

"Nah, we're fine, Casey helps." I grunted, stupid Casey. She laughed at my contempt for her friend.

"He'll grow on you." She shrugged and eyed Daren who was trying to search through the papers in his backpack while still carrying it on his back. His clumsy stumble send all sorts of papers flying out. She quickly jumped up to help him, I laughed when he ahha'ed and proudly help up the paper he had been looking for.

"Thanks." He accepted the bundle of papers that escaped during his search.

"Be more careful will yah, this is New York, not everyone will give you back the stuff you've dropped." She said but I didn't know he heard her because he bounded over to me and handed me the paper.

"What's this?" I smiled, but it vanished when I read the contents.

"It's an application for a grant you see, all you have to do is fill in a few forms, take a test and if you pass you can get into high school." He said proudly and started rambling.

"It's for homeless people." I said and looked up at him, I must have been glaring because he backed away.

"Well not exactly …", he squirmed "It's for kids who for monetary issues can't get into school."

"Monetary issues." Angel gave me a shove in the side and I glared up at her.

"Don't be like that the kid wants to help you out he didn't mean anything by it." She said, I looked back to Daren who seemed relieved that Angel had taken his side.

"It's for kids with a difficult home situation." She said and gave me a knowing stare. Me into high school, I honestly couldn't picture it. "I have one too." She admitted and I seriously thought about it.

"I don't know, it wouldn't feel right." My brothers would never get the chance to do something like this. All I could think about was how Donnie would love to get a chance like this.

"I'm sure they won't mind." Angel smiled somehow knowing what I was thinking, "Just think about it, I think it's a good idea. You could come to my school!" she yelled. "I could show you the ropes."

"Hey! I was the one that suggested it!" Daren glared, I smiled at his childish jealousy.

"I appreciate the thought, I'll think about it." I said and folded the paper and placed it inside my pocket.

"Crap I have to get going, I promised gran I wouldn't be home too late." Angel said and ran off with a quick goodbye.

"She's nice." Daren said as we walked towards his home. I could tell there was a bite to the way he said it though.

"Yeah she is." I smiled.

"How do you know her?" he asked carefully.

"I met her a month or so ago, she ran into some trouble and I helped her out." We were getting into some dangerous territory here.

"She knows, doesn't she?" he stopped walking and turned to me abruptly, I flinched when I noticed the intensity of his stare. I'd NEVER admit it out loud but for a minute I was … I don't know my heart seemed to make a dive like I jumped off a three story building … fear I guess.

"Knows what?" I tried to sound casually as I avoided his gaze. I made room for a couple to pass which seemed to shake Daren out of his weird mood. Like he just noticed he was making a scene in public. I shook his head and adjusted his signature red cap as if it was a hot summer day.

"Whatever it is you're hiding, about your family, your home, heck I bet she even knows why you don't have a birthday." He said quietly though the anger was still very much present, I don't know but the lack of yelling made it even more disturbing. I never realized Daren could get angry, now that I think about it if we fight there's nothing holding us together.

"Why are you getting angry?" I asked quietly, trying to remedy the situation. My lack of people skills wasn't helping at all because I knew it wasn't fair for him to know nothing about me when I knew stuff about him, but I didn't think it would be so upsetting.

"We're friends aren't we?" he snapped, anger back in place. I took an involuntary step back.

"Sure we're friends." I said quickly. I was about to step aside again as I sensed other people behind me but instead they stopped and started laughing.

"Aww look it's the fly." Daren slumped in on himself, all the anger gone out of his system. Instead it seemed to have transferred to me. I turned around slowly, I resisted the urge to pull down my ninja mask which was tied as a headband in its usual fashion. The group consisted out of three guys, all of them dressed in sweaty sports clothing. The leader had a blonde Mohawk and two earrings, he looked like all intents and purposes like a stereotype 80's gangster. The two others just stood behind him and sniggered, there was one slightly taller guy holding a basketball and one more pudgy with short brown hair.

"What's the matter little fly, problem with your girlfriend?" the blond one asked. My glare travelled back to the ringleader. Which made the three of them laugh to my utmost annoyance … keep laughing you bastards, those were definitely part of the group which I saw making fun of Daren that night.

"She's feral man, did she grew up on the streets or something?" the tall guy mocked and followed after the blond guy who had started to circle us.

"Looking at her clothes she must live at the dump, she a friend of yer grampa's. I hear these homeless chicks do anything for a buck." The pudgy one commented, I chose to ignore that as I tried to keep an eye out for the first real attack.

Daren however didn't seem to ignore that last comment and tried to usher himself between me and the three guys but before I could act the blond one quickly shoved him out of the way. He stumbled but didn't went down.

"Jerks, leave her alone!" Daren yelled, and tried to get back to my side "Thanny get out of here! This isn't your problem!" They were the ones who gave Daren that black eye, I smirked Mikey warned me not to interfere with Daren's business. But they came to me so they were fair game. Daren would later tell me that I had a very insane looking smile on my face.

"I'm giving you a chance to walk away unharmed, but only if you swear to never again harm my friend." I missed the comforting weight of the chains on my arms but it was a safe bet to say I could take these clowns. Blondie held back Daren, thinking that his two goonies could rough up some homeless chick.

All of them broke down in laughter. "Yeah we're scared now girly." The tall one said but I noticed a slight hesitation in his step that was either caused by fear or the reluctance to take down a girl two to one … little did he know the odds were way in my favor.

In training I had gotten surprisingly better at combined combat, I was now able to take on both Mikey and Raph for a significant amount of time. Which meant they could bring along their friends and their families before I'd be kissing the ground. I tried to send a confident look at Daren who was still struggling with the blond guy. If he had just paid better attention to my instructions the other day he could get out of that hold in like two seconds.

"I wouldn't mess with her guys, she'll beat you up. I'd spare myself the humiliation." Daren said after noticing my fight stance, he calmed down and quietly gave me the ok to kick their asses. My heart did another funny thing that would take me another couple of months to figure out, so even though I didn't know why I felt so happy that I send him the biggest smile I could manage.

The hoodlums ignored our exchange of course and continued to laugh. I'd make this quick, I pulled down my headband and briefly tightened the mask.

"Come on beat the freak up already!" the blond guy yelled, causing his goons to shoot into action. The tall one dared closer and was about to grab my arm, without even thinking about it I grabbed hold of his middle finger and had him on his knees in no time. With my boot I kept pressure on his shoulder so he wouldn't get up while holding his hand in a painful hold.

"Get this chick off a me!" the guy growled painfully into the dirty side walk. I could have knocked him out but I somehow feared it would freak out Daren too much.

The blond one shoved Daren away and advanced with the pudgy one, thinking that they could get the better of me now that I held their companion down. Daren made the blond one trip so I only had to deal with one of them at a time. With a simple side step and a well placed kick to his chin I made the barraging buffoon trip and he landed painfully on top of the guy I was restraining.

Confident that they wouldn't get up all that fast I walked over to the blond one who was advancing on Daren, I tapped on his shoulder and ducked out of his line of sight. I sneaked around him and placed myself between Daren and him.

"Remember thumb out of fist." I looked over my shoulder to a baffled looking Daren. The giant bond monkey was outraged that I had gotten the better of them without even trying and I just knew he was going to try and punch me.

His fist shot out towards me and I could tell he was putting way too much power into it. I jumped up and using his arm as a guidance I flipped over his head, I smirked at him as I looked down at his confused face … aerial combat had become one of my strong suits. I did a quick flip and kicked him in the back causing him to stumble forward, perfectly timed with his punch so he had no choice but to stumble forward.

"Now!" I yelled and I hoped Daren was paying attention, somehow I forgot that he hadn't been training for all of his life and maybe close combat situations didn't come as naturally to people as they did to me. But he came through, he had his fist ready and the moment the blond guy stumbled towards him he snapped his fist forwards and jammed it against the eye of his bully.

The guy didn't go down and I could tell Daren had harmed his wrist. But he didn't crawl in on himself like he had done before.

"Get out of here." Daren said, the guy stunned by the unforeseen events stumbled backwards and let out a satisfying yelp as he avoided me narrowly.

Simultaneously the two had gotten up and raced after their fleeing leader … cowards.

"Damn!" Daren hopped around and held his wrist, I smiled. I maneuvered the mask back into its headband fashion and walked up to him.

"Let me see." I laughed as he continued to curse, maybe I had to give him some more pointers on how to punch. He held out his hand but supported it like it was going to fall off.

I traced over the patches of broken skin on his knuckles, but it was hardly bleeding. He probably just didn't lock his wrist, causing it to sprain.

"You'll live." I smiled, he looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Thank you." He muttered quietly, his face discolored a bit, "… for you know …"

"… letting you punch him?" I guessed, he nodded and stuffed his hands into his yellow hoodie.

"How did it feel?" I asked with maybe a little too much enthusiasm.

"It felt great, now not so much though." He complained about his hand some more as we walked on as if nothing had happened.

"… so … what's with the mask?" he asked as I was about to say goodbye to him. He stared at me and I was conflicted, Leo had thrown a fit when he found out I mentioned I had brothers to the professor. I don't know what he'd do if he knew about Daren, Mikey had a point. But I really wanted to tell him.

Daren sighed when he didn't receive an answer right away. "Anyways, thank you for today." He said and was about to enter his building.

"I'm a ninja!" I exclaimed loudly. He stopped in his tracks but I was so embarrassed by the sudden outburst that I made sure to vanish from his field view to moment I said it … well maybe I'm a coward too.

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><p>So next chapter, I decided I'd let you guys wait long enough between chapters the last time so I'm trying to make up for it.<p> 


	40. Prelude to Disaster

**The Little Turtle.**

_To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys ... We live outside the touch of time. - Clara Ortega_

40) Prelude to Disaster.

My feet were moving before my brain had fully comprehended the severity of the situation. Afterwards I would thank whatever gods were up there that I had given into my intuition.

The increase in PD activity was hard to ignore now, especially when they were invading our rooftop-territory ... like murky water from the storm drains after a week of rain they just flooded onto the rooftop. This couldn't be a coincidence anymore, they were actively tracking us ... and they weren't being too subtle about it either seeing that we're on a twelve story building.

It was apparent that the PD's in this particular battle where mere rookies but the cheer abundance of them had taken us by surprise. I was knocking out as much of them as fast as I could handle, I had the pressure point technique sort of down. I couldn't yet knock someone out with a single well placed punch as master Splinter could, nor was it always as effective against larger opponents whose weak points are slightly shifted because of muscle tissue ... but I had no trouble at all cramping up the scrawny arms and legs of small fry like these. I was grinning at the scared glances passing between the three junior PD's surrounding me when I noticed Mikey on the opposite side of the roof.

My youngest brother was having a slightly tougher time, the leader of the pack of PD's wasn't as inexperienced in combat as the pups under his command. Under normal circumstances even this wouldn't have been a problem, having trained by Splinter each one of us knew very well that size doesn't matter. Was it not that he was awaiting his time to strike for the moment Mike was distracted by the pups he threw his way ... cheater. I had already planned to give him a hand as soon as my own enemies had fallen, I was confident that Mikey could hold out for a couple more minutes ... even so I kept checking on him.

When I was down to my last rookie, I noticed the leader was tired of this slow pace and took the closest PD by the collar and literally threw him at Mikey knocking them both to the ground. The frightened kid tried to scramble off but their entangled limbs made for an awkward frenzy. Sadistically slow the leader picked up an abandoned crowbar and made for the two, raising his arm as the most evil smile I ever saw appeared on his face.

The boy still scrambling on top of Mikey started crying as he realized his boss wouldn't mind the collateral damage. I was too far away and there were too many moving obstacles for me to use my chain. Two more PD's engaged me in battle, one of them managed to nick my arm with his butterfly knife while I was distracted.

Some guys running by momentarily blocked my view, I looked around to see Raph at my left pounding two PD's while one hung from his shell. Leo was helping out Donnie who had been having a hard time keeping up dodging the continuous attacks. I knew Donnie was trying his best not to hurt the boys but it took a toll on his body as most of them were trying their all to hurt us. None of them were remotely close enough to help Mikey ... it was up to me.

I was so sure Mikey would be able to block the blow, the guy sprawled on top of him shouldn't have been that much of a bother seeing that he wasn't even trying to hold Mikey down. I heard the boy cry out and for a moment I feared that they had killed one of their own. The guys around me didn't even seem to hear the sound of their buddy in distress or they chose to ignore it.

When my line of sight was clear of running rookies I saw that he had in fact been aiming for the boy as Mikey must have pushed him out of the way. I froze as I noticed the crowbar rise again, but with a growl which put Raph's to shame and a well placed nun-chuck to the temple he knocked down the leader.

I released the breath I was holding only to suck it in again as Mikey came back to his feet. There was something off, he was wobbling way too much. Mikey clutched his head, from this distance I couldn't quite see how extensive the damage was but I was sure a crowbar could be lethal enough. I took my first step in his direction the moment he took his first backwards, I zeroed in on the ledge ... it was way too close.

I abandoned my fight and just started running, blind panic overtook me as he took another step backwards. My body struggled to keep up with my mind, I had to get there, curse you laws physics. I didn't yell out to him, my muscles needed every breath of oxygen as I pushed them to their limits. I was only halfway there when his heel touched the ledge. A body blocked my sight again, I hardly recognized it as a potential enemy, just some human-shaped obstacle. I was so focused on reaching my goal that I sought the quickest way past the obstacle. The rooftop was slippery because of the heavy rain we had earlier. I used the large puddle the obstacle was standing in to skid between his legs.

When I got back to my feet not more than a second must have passed, but still Mikey had started his descent. His center of gravity started to shift backwards, I was almost there ... my stomach dropped, I was going to be too late ... Mikey was falling. I thought that I heard Leo's voice cry out in the distance but I wasn't 100% sure, it didn't matter anyways. I could tell Mikey was moments away from unconsciousness, he wouldn't be able to stop his descent like he might otherwise could.

I was almost there when he toppled over and vanished from my sight I did cry out but I never slowed down. When I slammed into the ledge full force I was just in time to see the three-fingered hand release its grip on the building. With blind hope I reached frantically. I felt something graze my fingers I just grabbed hold.

The world started turning again, I was panting in exhaustion. Miraculously I had managed to grab hold of his wrist. Thank God for quick reflexes. I had a fraction of a second to feel boundless joy before his weight threatened to pull me along. It probably would have, had I not managed to lodge my knees behind the ledge. I needed both of my hands to keep a hold of him, I gritted my teeth at the strain this all put on my body. Sure I've thrown them all more than once in practice but supporting Mikey's full weight by myself was something else entirely.

I was horrified when I noticed my hold was slipping ... his leather wristband behind which my fingers had found a hold had started to gave way. If there was one thing that'd be worse than watching Mikey fall to his death it would be if it was because I let him slip through my fingers. I really had to claw at his wrist to keep him with me. My knees were being scraped open against the unforgiving stone, the ledge was grinding very painfully into my stomach and the weight of my brother almost pulled my shoulders out of their sockets. He was swinging ominously above the depth of the alleyway, I did not dare move a single muscle. The ledge, which was being crushed into my rib cage, prevented me from calling out for help.

This had gone so much better in my head. Pulling him back onto the roof by myself would be next to impossible I realized. I tried to even out my panicked breathing, but most of my attention was forced on keeping my fingers clenched. I briefly cursed the watery surface, which just seconds ago had been my ally helping me skid along the roof. Now not only did it make it hard for me to brace myself but it had moistened my hands and caused a lack of much needed friction between my hands and my brothers arm. I even cursed his scaly reptilian skin as I felt a finger slip around one of the many little bony plates that coated his hide. Sure they were a great advantage in battle, but they made for horrible handholds. I could feel my nails complain painfully as I dug them deeper into the hard surface trying to keep him from slipping.

"Mikey!" I sobbed hysterically. I wanted to scream at him to wake up but the weight was crushing my ribs so painfully against on the ledge that I hardly got enough oxygen inside to produce anything beside short hysterical breaths. I was hoping that he could find some way to crawl up himself or at least give me his other arm so I could alter my grip. I tried to shake away the hair, which the wind was relentlessly blowing into my face, and caught a glance of blood trailing down his head. A furious yell behind me shook me back to reality as I realized the battle was still going on. Sounds exploded all around me as if until this moment the world had stood still to watch. I didn't know if the others had figured out what had happened nor if they were able to come to our aid anytime soon.

I dared a look over my shoulder, I could only catch a glance of Raph. He was trying his best to keep the Purple Dragons away from us. I could hear the distinct sound of Leo's katana's clashing with the enemy but my range of visibility was limited due to my uncomfortable position. I could feel my arms shake, the weight was tearing at the tendons and muscles. I focuses on my hands and fingers, don't let go, don't let go. It's only a matter of time before the others get here, just don't let go. I tried to clear my mind, as master Splinter had often tried to teach us. Block out the pain, block out the pain, don't let go, don't let go, became my mantra.

"Thanny watch out!" Raph's yell broke violently through my concentration, enough so that I had to scramble my thumb for another hold. I could hear the clanging and splashing of iron tipped shoes on wet cement advancing towards us accompanied by the ominous scraping of a crowbar against the cement ... the leader must have regained consciousness, he had probably been dropped behind the line my brothers where holding. The saying 'killing two birds with one stone' came to mind. I let out a whimper ... this can't be happening ... I tried my best not to panic but our imminent deaths made it sort of impossible.

In movies these scenes are always depicted as time slowing down. I find it is not really everything slowing down but it's just the side effect of your brain rushing too fast ... I had to find a way out of this ... Letting go and saving myself wasn't even an option. Nor was standing my ground, my grip was slipping as it is. One wrong move would be the death of Mikey. Nobody could possibly come to our aid in time. I looked past my unconscious brother. In the alley was a parked car and some trashcans, nothing remotely soft enough to break the fall. My eye searched frantically for a way out of this hopeless situation and landed on the fire escape attached to the building across from us.

That had to do, one in a million shot, I thought as I eyed my manriki chain wrapped around my left arm. Hopefully it would be enough so at least the fall wouldn't be fatal. I steeled my nerves as the decision was made in less than a second. I was counting the metal steps behind me, I guessed only three more and I would be within slashing range.

Consciously jumping off a building was the single most terrifying thing I had ever done, but once over the edge I didn't have the luxury of panicking. The moment my feet pushed off from the ground there was the pain of my knees slamming into the ledge as my lower half was dragged over. My fingers released their death grip and my stomach made its usual response to a lack of solid ground. I pulled myself closer to Mikey as best as I could and wrapped my legs around him and swung his arm around my neck. Simultaneously I twirled the chain lose, hoping it would have enough momentum and length to reach the rail of the fire escape. I was advanced enough in handling my weapon that I could predict, from the moment I let go, if it would hit its target or not.

With all my might I swung it across the ally to the neighboring fire escape, floor after floor passed us ... our time was running out ... fast. I could feel the chain would catch and according to my calculations the trajectory would drop us right on the balcony of the second floor. I held onto the chain with both hands and awaited the pull, fearing that anything less would dislocate my arm or worse. I clung to my brother as best as I could ... I even bit his mask even though that wouldn't be any help at all, but logic had been left behind the moment Mikey got hit. I hoped that my manriki would be able to withstand our combined weights.

Against all odds it worked, I bit against the blinding pain as the force of our weight and acceleration pulled on my arms. The old iron of the fire escape complained loudly with the force being put on its hinges. I yelled out and clamped my legs tightly around Mikey as the opposing force jerked us around, thanking whoever was up there that he hadn't yet slipped from my grasp. I could feel the edge of his shell cut painfully into my calves. My left hand was twisted in an impossible angle due to the chain being wrapped around it. We swung towards the fire escape, all our vertical energy being translated into horizontal velocity as the iron railing of the fire escape deemed closer.

Before I realized my calculations where a bit off Mikey's shell connected loudly against the metal at our initial impact, the dent in the metal had me counting my lucky stars that it wasn't me who was flattened against the metal. As if some cruel God was listening we bounced off twisted around and this time I was squashed between a turtle and a hard place. Fortunately my head was cushioned by the arm I had managed to maneuver around my neck. We bounced off and against it for two more times before we came to a definite stop, each one of us taking a turn against the unforgiving metal.

I looked up from where we had started our descent ... and I couldn't believe what had happened ... that we were still alive. Mikey was still breathing and though the blood pooling out of his head wound was troubling, he had survived ... we had survived. I would have started laughing like a crazy person had I not tried to move my hand. Shocked and panicked by the sudden immense pain my legs loosened their grip as my body desperately tried to relieve the strain off my arm. Too late I realized my mistake and I watched Mikey slip from my grasp as he plummeted down the last two floors. I heard him land with a sickly thud unto the cold pavement, I could only hope his shell had protected him from the worst of it ... I cursed myself, I managed to hold onto him for all this time and when we were so close to reaching safety ... I let him go.

The panic and pain slowly started to sway, my brain felt incredibly foggy as I reached to untangle my hand from the chain. 'I have to get down.' I thought though it was getting increasingly more difficult to keep track of my thoughts. 'Mikey ... alive ... get down ...' It was as if here was a sea of waves inside my head and when I opened my eyes the world seemed to sway along the numbing beat. I had let go of the chain I realized though I was still not falling, I tried to look up but it was getting hard to focus. Something was dripping on my face, something that was too sticky to be water I should have realized but my brain was far too much gone in to handle more coherent thoughts than 'get down' and 'Mikey'.

I tried to make a grab for the fire-escape but it too was bobbing in and out of focus. When I finally got a decent foot hold I managed to shake off a length of chain, my fingers were freed when I tried to move them another wave of vertigo crashed down on me and I slipped off the fire-escape. I plummeted down the length of chain I had managed to free and my body twirled as the rest of it coiled free of its own accord. By now I was too dazed to fight the forces of nature anymore and just let gravity do its worst.

I had the nagging feeling I was forgetting something but as the ground came up to meet me I also lost track of that thought. I was looking up at the sky, watching the chain which still hung from the fire-escape dangle back and forth until it lulled me to sleep.

* * *

><p>So apparently changing from T to M wasn't a good idea also ... there is just no pleasing you people :) ... I'll just write a warning in the summary about curses and let that be the end of it.<p>

Alright, standard apology about not updating on time, slight praise to the new movie and a little frustration towards the series that really need to release a new episode (but that possibly makes me a hypocrite ^^ )

So thank you people who reviewed and faved my fic in the mean time!


	41. Little Ones

**The Little Turtle**

_"And I will hold on hope and I won't let you choke on the noose around your neck and I'll find strength in pain and I won't change my ways I know my name as it's called again." (The Cave - Mumford & Sons) _

41) Little Ones.

The place between consciousnesses has a very surreal feeling, everything takes a moment to be put into perspective. Like the analytic part of your brain is just waking up as well and it feels like you experience everything twice. First you live through it and only later you become aware ... only with awareness comes the pain and much like the moment you realize you're waking up from a beautiful dream no matter how hard you try getting to that blissful dreamlike state again is impossible.

Being forced aware comes in different waves as well. First comes the pain, which feels like being dropped into a pool of needles first prodding all over then pounding until its focused into certain hot-spots. My head for one was thrumming so hard it was impossible to become aware of anything else, then like a drum-solo from hell other body parts made themselves known. First the pain spread to my back, than my left shoulder and lastly my left hand.

It felt like being drowned in an ocean of pain, my head wasn't able to comprehend it and was just swept along the current ... never being able to keep hold of a line of thought long enough to figure anything out. Pain and panic controlled everything and after what felt like an eternity I finally managed some control, slowly I was able to keep myself afloat. Next I tried to open my eyes, not knowing where I am or what day it is I was quite anxious to figure out what exactly had happened ... only to be submerged again by the panic when I realized the lack of response in of my eyelids.

I was back in the ocean, panic and pain overtook my senses again as I tried to make sense of them. Random memories flashed before my eyes as if my brain was searching for something, it finally settled on one of master Splinter's lessons. His voice echoed strongly in my head, 'Panic is a waste of energy, focus and breathe'. I stopped trying to fight the ocean, I stopped trying to comprehend it all and just focused on something simpler ... I decided to count my breaths ... my confused mind seemed to do better with simple tasks. Breathe in, breathe out became my mantra. I didn't try to open my eyes quite yet but after a hundred something breaths I noticed noise. Careful not to lose control I tried to focus in on it.

"… move them!" I heard voices as if I WAS in fact underwater, clouded, fuzzy and seemingly coming from all directions at once. The hearing improved as I put more effort to understand them.

"… idiot … alive, clobber them those filthy …" carefully I tried opening my eyes again, all of a sudden it was as if my body wanted me to go to sleep ... I cursed because it what I was wishing for moments ago when I was fighting the pain. The unjustness made me want to fight against it, I felt like I was almost at the surface again and sleep was the bottomless void below me ... it would be so easy to give in, it probably wouldn't hurt as much either. The closer I got to the surface the more intense the pain but the clearer my mind became and I was starting to recognize the voices.

"… no time …" the voice was close and clearly belonged to my brother Donnie. The pain intensified as it throbbed along with my heartbeat I was disoriented but I finally reached the surface. I could feel my body laying twisted in an unnatural position like a discarded rag-doll, I still wasn't able to move anything yet.

I tried to call for help, Donnie would know what to do. Trying to speak was easier, though at first only moans seemed to come out. I tried to focus despite the panic and forced my eyes to open. I could have smiled at this small victory, everything was blurry and I had to blink a couple of times. The vision wasn't only fuzzy and unclear, there was something off and I couldn't put my finger on it. We were definitely outside, my body started shaking as the draft washed over me. Large figures where moving It took me a while to figure out I was seeing everything upside down.

I looked up to see the unfocused, concerned faces of my brothers. I was laying across something, it bend my back in a painful arch and pressured my head against the pavement. I would have felt relief was it not for the scared and concerned looks on their faces.

"Are you alright? How many fingers do you see?" I heard Donnie ask, I twisted my head to him and I saw him holding up two fingers ... I always thought that was a stupid question to ask but when both his face and the fingers started moving around at a fast pace I closed my eyes again and fought against the motion sickness. The moving around made my tender head scrape against the rough ground.

Me being upside down wasn't helping with the nausea either. I moaned as I tried to grasp my pounding head but one move from my left hand send a searing pain through my arm. I yelled out and started to panic again. I wanted to stand up, but the weird position I was in and the disorientation were fighting that. Someone held me down, I looked up to see Donnie again. He had his hands on my shoulders.

"Calm down, little turtle." He spoke gently and he breathed with me for a couple of moments to keep me from freaking out.

"… up … please " I wheezed. I he had a pained look in his eye and shook his head.

"Come on Donnie get her up!" Raph almost made his way past him but Donnie pushed him back, which was quite a feat in its own. Leo grabbed hold of Raph and tried to hold him back.

"I know what I'm doing alright!" he yelled. Then he lowered himself slowly back to me. "Listen this is very important alright. I know it's scary but tell me if you can move your legs." he asked. The insinuation of the possibility of paralysis along with my earlier inability to move my limps was enough to freak me out again. What had in the world had happened? I tried to push myself up to see the damage myself. But Donny shook his head and gently pushed me down again.

"No don't move yet! You could make it worse!" he yelled, "Can you move your legs?" he asked again. I didn't know, my legs felt kind of numb but that could be because of the strange position. I was scared to find out now.

I looked up at him desperately, I hated being this scared and Donny understood, he always does. He nodded and held my uninjured hand. "I'm here." He said simply and waited for me to try move my legs. I took a deep breath and tried to do as told. It wasn't much but I could definitely move my toes and feet. Donny let out a breath of relief and smiled brightly.

"That's a miracle, hold on just a moment little turtle." He was rummaging through his bag and took out a thick bandage. Next he gently lifted my head and wrapped it around my neck, not so tight as to choke me but the thickness offered some support.

"That should do it for now … Alright, Raph give me a hand." He said and Raph appeared next to Donnie. As careful as he possibly could Donnie lifted my upper body enough for Raph's hands to move under and lift me from the ground. "Try not to jostle her too much and support her neck." Donnie whispered as if I couldn't hear what they were saying. Raph muttered a reply but did as told. They moved painfully slow, but apparently it was necessary. It hurt the most when they arranged my left arm in my lap, a red cloth was wrapped around my hand so I couldn't yet see what the damage was.

"There you go." Raph whispered and carefully shifted me around so I'd me more comfortable, it hurt a bit but it was a lot better than being upside down. As he turned and walked towards Leo, I wondered why Donny wasn't following. I looked around Raph's arm and I could see to my horror that the reason I was upside down was because I had been draped across Mikey's plastron. Raph held me tighter when he felt I wanted to move. "Don't." he forced out.

"Mikey! What happened?" I asked, I tried to remember but everything came back blank. My eyes were glued to were Donnie and Leo were fussing over my youngest brother ... Mikey wasn't moving, I was lying on his chest ... was he even breathing? Donnie must have checked his vitals before he woke me up right?

"Later." Raph said, it took me a while to realize he was answering my question. He sat himself against the opposite wall of the alley with me in his lap. He hugged me to his body, my vision started to blur again as a wave of nausea rolled over me, I tried my best not to puke all over my brother and managed to keep it down for now. One of us was shaking but I couldn't tell who it was. I let my head rest on his shoulder and watched Mikey, Leo nodded to us which made me sag a bit in relief ... Mikey was alive. It took so long to wake him though, the sun was slowly starting to come up.

Slowly they helped him into a sitting position and as if approaching a dangerous animal Donnie walked around him to take a look at his shell. I felt Raph's hand clench over my arm as we regarded the surprise on Don's face "It IS a miracle!" he yelled and fell to his knees laughing and crying at the same time. "They're both fine." And I felt Raph relaxing just a tiny bit. I don't much care for Donnie's definition of 'fine' but it appeared we were both alive.

Leo and Donnie carefully helped Mikey to his feet. He was staggering a bit and the blood running over his face was a little disturbing ... but otherwise he was alright. 'What could have happened?' I wondered going from our positions we must have fallen. I looked up, I winced as a tender part of my head brushed against Raph's shoulder, Donnie's bandage nudged uncomfortably against my head as I tried to look upwards. That was impossible! A fall from that building would have squashed us both, even with a shell. Though the insinuation of falling called back vertigo and desperation until my head started pounding again.

When I got it back under control Raph had gotten back up and I tried to focus on the rhythm of his steps to get used to the pain. It took us a while to get to the lair, Mikey kept dozing off and Don was constantly alternating between fussing over the both of us. All the way I tried to recall what exactly had happened. A fall from that altitude would have reduced us both to pancakes. But who knows maybe Mikey's shell had been enough to break the fall or maybe we just fell from the fourth floor instead of the roof … thinking made my head hurt.

"Raphie? What happened?" I asked again as we were going through the sewers. I had to know.

"Later." He said again and I dropped the subject. Master Splinter was waiting for us when we got home, after he had placed his hand on foreheads did he allow us to pass.

"You gave us all a scare little ones." he said, he called any one of us 'little ones' whenever we got hurt no doubt seeing the little 4 year old versions of ourselves as any father would. The moment didn't last long though Donnie took control and ordered the both of us to be brought into his lab. They first put Mikey on the little cot and Donnie searched him for any injuries while Raph waited just outside with me. I told him it would be alright if he put me down for a moment to check on Mikey but he refused wordlessly. Donnie concluded that aside from the concussion and a gash on his head he didn't have a scratch ... That didn't make any sense, if Mikey broke the fall wouldn't he have turned out worse than me? But his shell showed no sign of damage ... it took the brunt of the fall of a ten-something story building and it wasn't even cracked.

Leo took Mikey to his room, with the order that he had to be kept awake at least until morning. A big icepack was taped to his head and it blocked my view as I searched for his eyes. He didn't even seem to notice me as he was ushered along by Leo. I tried to reach for him but it send a pang of pain up my left arm. I hissed and Raph cursed and ran inside. Raph seemingly reluctant to let me go, placed me slowly on the little bed but as soon as he did, he left the room without looking back. I didn't want to be pathetic and call him back but I really wished he had stayed with me ... I guess he wanted to make sure Mikey was alright for himself.

"Donnie? What happened?" I asked, he looked startled for a bit and began to frantically look me over, mumbling scientific stuff I wouldn't know the meaning to even if I asked the for an explanation.

"How much do you remember?" he asked as he pointed a light into my eyes.

"You have to do that?" I tried to push him away but only ended in yelping as I tried to move my left hand again. With the proper lighting I could finally see that it wasn't in fact a red cloth wrapped around my hand but rather that it had once been white. With the awareness that something was terribly wrong with it the throbbing intensified, for the first time I noticed that I couldn't move the arm at all. I could feel it as it pulsed with pain but it just hung awkwardly and uselessly from my body as if it wasn't my arm anymore.

"Hey, calm down." He rushed over to the right side of the bed and faced my head away from the horror. "Focus on something else, alright? I'll fix your hand later, I first have to check your head." He spoke in a gentle tone and petted my hair. He nodded when he saw I was trying to calm down and continued his examination. This is what I truly hated about fighting, fighting itself was fine, with the adrenaline going you hardly feel pain but afterwards. When your body is stiff and sore then the wounds come back with a vengeance to bite you in the ass.

"You seem to have a concussion too. This is gonna be a long night." He sighed. "Just yell when you start to feel sick alright?" I nodded and dreaded the moment already, just the fact that he said when and not if I was going to be sick.

"Some ice in here!" he yelled into the living room before sitting to my left. He slowly started to unwind the cloth. I tried not to squirm too much but it hurt like hell when the cloth pulled at my fingers. With morbid fascination I watched as a bloody claw was revealed. It didn't feel like my hand for a moment, I started panicking again. My heartbeat shot sky high and I was shaking all over.

"Thanny calm down!" He ran to my right side and forced me to look away again. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe but it was not easy.

"Thanny? How far do you remember?" he asked again when he realized I never really answered the question yet.

"I don't know." I tried "We were fighting ..." I realized, he nodded and waited for me to go on. " … the purple dragons ... we were winning … nothing." I could visualize the young purple dragon goonies that endlessly came at us. "We were fighting on the roof ... did we fall? That can't be ..." My head throbbed again.

"Don't worry it will come back to you." He smiled reassuringly as he finished cleaning. "Seems like you just forgot the last few minutes ... could be worse … " Donnie said to himself, Leo came inside and handed Donnie the ice. Donnie was inspecting my hand with a frown. He tried to be gentle but I couldn't help to let out a few whimpers every now and then. Leo took my other hand and allowed me to squeeze as hard as I wanted. I smiled at my oldest brother, thankful for the comfort "Are Raph and Splinter with Mikey?" Donnie asked, to which Leo nodded.

"Thanny, your wrist only seems to be sprained but two of your fingers are broken …" he stopped, I could tell there was more to come. "... and your shoulder is dislocated." he said after he shared a look with Leo. Cold sweat started to build up. I could feel where he is going with this. I looked towards Leo who had a similarly panicked look on his face. None of us had ever broken or dislocated anything before, sure there have been an endless amount of concussions and cuts and bruises ... but nothing like this. Donnie had an equally scared look, he was the one who had to try and fix it.

"Maybe, we should take her to a hospital instead." Donnie offered and backed slowly away.

"NO!" if there was one thing that could make this night even worse it was just that. "NO! Man up Donnie !" I yelled and trashed around so much my stomach made itself known. I covered my mouth and hunched over, which was a bad idea as it made the world twist around even more. Donnie offered a bucket just in time. Throwing up was disgusting, but doing it while realizing you have a dislocated arm dangling lifelessly next to you just made the gore all that more ... gory. After heaving for the fourth time my stomach seemed to settle down.

"Please no hospitals." I could hardly bear this humiliation among my own family let alone surrounded by strangers. "Just try, please, if you still feel like you can't do it, you can give up and leave me at a hospital but please try." I pleaded, I knew I was fighting dirty but I really didn't want to go to a hospital.

Donnie groaned and took the bucket away when he noticed I was finished for the moment. "You realize I'm going to have to force your arm back into its socket and pull your fingers straight again ... you have to be conscious ... but ..." Donnie got this glint in his eye that was the equivalent of a light bulb appearing above his head. "Keep her awake I'll be right back." Donnie said as he ran out.

"I hate it when he does that." Leo complained I smiled at him. I tried to look up but the bandage prevented that. I tried to free my hand from Leo's grasp to tug at it but he probably knew what I was up to and held onto it.

Donnie entered moments later accompanied by master Splinter, out of habit I tried to sit up as a sign of respect but both Splinter and Leo pushed me back down. Master Splinter had a weird look in his eye that I couldn't quite place.

"What do you need me to do Donatello?" he asked.

"Could you use your pressure points to paralyze her arm? She can't be unconscious for a while but the bones need to be set as soon as possible." Master Splinter prodded my shoulder in search of the right tendons as he taught me.

"Breathe child this won't hurt." he said and struck the right nerves in sequence, I didn't know you could paralyze an arm without making it cramp up but I'm glad master Splinter did. A sharp pain was immediately followed by boundless relief. Not all the pain had vanished the fingers were still throbbing but in a much more bearable way than they had before.

"See, they don't know how to do that in the hospital." I smiled and started to doze off until Leo shook me awake.

"It won't last long my son." Master Splinter said and joined Leo at my right to give Donnie enough room to work. Donnie gulped and nodded.

I couldn't look at what followed next, instead I focused on master Splinter. With after a few tries and a firm shove I felt the bone flop back into its rightful place ... It still hurt like hell though, but I'd imagine it would be a whole lot worse without master Splinter's help. The action was accompanied by a sickening sound that made me reach for the bucket again. Donnie didn't wait for me to finish and by the time I looked up from my bucket both fingers were back into place.

It was done, my brothers let out a breath of relief that the worst was officially over. Donnie taped my fingers together and enforced my wrist. All of it was piled under ice which helped against the pain that was slowly returning.

"I'm going to make some tea for your upset stomach little one, I'll be right back." Master Splinter said and went into the kitchen.

"Thank you master." I said, Leo's hold on my shoulder stopped me from bowing.

"Is it over?" I asked and peeked at Donnie, from his apologetic look I could tell it was not.

"I just need to look at your back now." Donnie said. I nodded and Leo and Donnie helped me sit up. I could feel him prodding and poking, I don't know what he was looking for but I think I'm glad he didn't seem to find it.

"I don't have an x-ray machine in here so I can't be sure, but I don't think anything's broken, you'll be sore though." He said and carefully placed me back down. "No moving around until I said so." Donnie ordered and Leo gave a nod to enforce the command.

"What? Not this again!" I let myself sag into the bed.

"I mean it this time, you fell 12 stories down and basically landed on your back. You're lucky you can still move!" He yelled, that shut my whining though. It wasn't often Donnie lost his cool, but when he did he was a lot scarier than Raph could hope to be.

"Don!" Leo snapped and placed a hand on Donnie's shoulder. Tears were welling up in my eyes and I didn't have strength enough to stop them.

"I'm sorry." I said and tried to conceal my crying, "I'm so sorry." I whined again. Leo rubbed my head and hugged me again.

"Don't apologize, silly little ninja." He laughed and kissed my head. "It wasn't anybody's fault."

"Sorry little turtle it has been a stressful evening for me." Donnie said and sagged into his chair.

"For all of us." Master Splinter said. "Donatello what's should happen next?" master Splinter carried the steaming cup over and helped me sip small amounts of the potion. It didn't taste good, nor was it particularly bad but it did help calm my stomach down.

"As long as she doesn't move for a while, she'll be fine." Doniie said. "I'm gonna go get some ice for that bump on your head." Donnie said and walked to the kitchen.

Master Splinter took Donnie's spot on the chair and eyed my hand, he gave the cup to Leo who placed it on Donnie's desk.

"Leonardo, what exactly has occurred here tonight?" master Splinter asked when Donnie came back inside. He lifted my head and found the bump and held the ice against it. I listened very carefully at what Leo was going to say. Leo took his time to answer.

"We were fighting the purple dragons ... it was an accident, it happened so fast." He said and lowered his eyes to me. "Mikey got hit on the head and was send over the edge." He swallowed and managed a small smile "Fortunately Thanny was close by and was paying attention. She managed to hold onto him."

I did what?! I looked between the three of them. I tried to picture it as Leo went on with the story and slowly the images came back.

"We were about to help but the enemy took advantage of our distraction and moved to attack them. Thanny was unable to fight so we tried to hold them off until we could help, but …" it sounded familiar. Leo seemed to have a hard time, but I started to remember bits and pieces.

"Mikey was unconscious … " I said " … I couldn't pull him up. I wasn't strong enough and …" I grabbed my head as it started to pound, horrible images of Mikey slipping through my fingers appeared ... I felt horrible, was that what happened? I let Mikey fall?

"Calm down, little ninja." Leo pushed me back down and finished the story. "Someone got past us. We were all engaged in battle and once we noticed him it was too late." Leo closed his eyes and took a moment.

"Go on my son." Master Splinter said.

"They went over the edge ..." Leo almost choked when he said that. " … Raph tried to reach them … but a couple of dragons jumped him and we were forced to finish the fight before we could go see …" he swallowed again and tears were forming in his eyes, "… see if they were alive." He forced out that last part.

Master Splinter nodded and remained quiet, he stood up and kissed my forehead. "I am glad you are all safe." He said before walking out and into his room. I waited until he was gone to ask.

"How did we … you know?" I asked. Leo looked to Donnie. How did we survive?

"I'm not sure, we found your manriki-chain dangling from a fire escape so it seems that you managed to slow down your descent. How you did it while hanging onto Mikey is beyond me." Donnie concluded. I tried to remember, but I only got to the moment I grabbed Mikey's hand.

"Is Mikey going to be alright?" I asked them. Leo smiled and gently rubbed my head.

"Mikey is going to be just fine, he's annoying Raph as we speak." Leo comforted.

"Yeah, the only injury he got was probably the one that knocked him out on the roof. You saved his life." Donnie said, I nodded thank God! I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the what if's.

"I wanna see him." I had to see with my own eyes he was alright.

"That's probably not such a good idea. We really have to refrain you from moving, Mikey needs rest too and there is no room for an extra bed in here. I like to keep you here in the lab for today just to be safe." Donnie said. "Besides you need peace and quiet and Mikey'll be throwing a fit, you know how he gets when he's tired."

"You're the doctor." I muttered and tried to be comfortable, but with my unmovable hand, the itchy neck-bandage and that ice-pack below my head it was quite hard to do.

"Speaking of which, I'll relieve Raph from Mikey-duty before any more accidents happen." Leo said and Donnie nodded. "Love you little ninja." Leo said.

"Love you too big brother." I smiled, guess we gave them quite the scare huh? Donnie removed the ice-pack and noticed me shivering, when Raph came into the room Don left to get me a blanket.

"Hey." I smiled, he tried to smile back but failed. "How's Mikey doing?" I asked.

"He's fine." He said. He seemed angry ... which was a good sign. It meant he had gotten back to normal. Whenever one of us gets hurt he takes it very personally and manages to be both pissed and caring at the same time ... it was both scary and really sweet depending which side of the hospital bed you were on. The ice on my hand started to uncomfortably bite into my skin so I took it off. My wrist did look a lot better without all the blood and grime caking it. There was a pattern to the bruising that was appearing on my arm. It must have been where the chain had bit into my skin, red darkening welts of broken skin defined every link in the chain. The fingers where kind of funny, but that might be the concussion talking. My index and pinky finger had been broken and once set Donnie had taped them to the 'healthy' ones next to them. Bottom line my hand was fixed in the star trek hand sign. It made me snort.

"What could possibly be funny." Raph snapped, he came in rubbing his head like he always did when he's frustrated. I couldn't help myself I held up my hand.

"I come in peace." I exclaimed, it probably wasn't the best idea to push Raph now and it wasn't appropriate at all but I laughed. He must have thought I was crazy, well according to Donnie I hit my head pretty hard so who knows maybe I am.

"You're such an idiot." He said annoyed but he couldn't contain the little smirk ... 'That was better.' I thought.

"Yeah probably." I answered, he sat next to me and I watched him frown as he examined my wrist.

"Is it broken?" he asked, he probably freaked out too when he saw the mangled state it had been in earlier.

"Nah, the wrist is fine, it looks worse than it is actually. The fingers are broken though so please don't squeeze them or anything." I said, I shouldn't have bothered Mikey and Donnie were the only ones who dared to poke the injured around here ... both for very different reasons though. Raph just gave me a look that said just that and carefully traced the bruising instead.

"You two …" he sighed and carefully laid my wrist back down and lend back in his chair. Rubbing his head as if he wanted to pull his non-existing hair out.

"What?" I was a little puzzled at his behavior, normally he would have started yelling how stupid we both had been or blaming himself. But he looked more defeated and it scared me a little, this wasn't a Raph that I had much experience with and for a moment it was quiet ... I didn't know what to say, he just sat there eyes firmly shut, hands clenching his bandana.

"You two ...", he started roughly and I thought he was starting the 'they always go after the little ones'-thing again "... you and Mikey, you always manage to scare the shit out of us you know that?" he said softly and stared at me from under his hands. I felt a little guilty, I guess seeing one sibling toppling over the edge was one thing. But two and being unable to help ... I would probably have gone crazy too.

"Sorry." I said. "If it's any consolation, you guys often scare the crap out of us too you know?" he gave no reply to that but placed his arms on the bed and made himself comfortable. Guess he was as tired as I was.

"So did the doctor order you to stay awake too?" he asked after a couple minutes of silence. I smiled, knowing the worst of his mood swings were over, his voice sounded muffled as he spoke into the mattress.

"Yeah, can't move from this bed until I get the all clear from the doc." I moped. "Which won't be anytime soon." Donnie always freaked out whenever I was complaining about my back, I guess it has something to do with me not having a protective shell. He's a better safe than sorry kind of person, always double checking every result and recalculating every equation before he made a decision and that went double for when he's in 'doctor mode'.

"Man Donnie's as bad as fearless." Raph said without any malice. It was true most of the times now Raph listened to Leo in the field, but if there was something he didn't want to do not even Leo could force him ... yet somehow Donnie never failed in restraining him in the hospital bed for days against his will.

"Yeah, stupid power hungry brothers of ours." I smiled, he just smirked back and yawn. A mountain of blankets followed by Donnie entered.

"What?" he said when he noticed our amused stares. "It's important to keep her warm, especially with all the ice going on. You do not want to catch a cold on top of everything else do you?" I tried to shake my head but it was difficult with the neck bandage. "... and that stays on as well." Donnie ordered when he noticed I was tugging at it. "Raph give me a hand." he ordered, Raph sighed but did as told and gave me a knowing look ... Donnie is the alpha in the lab.

Together they tucked me in, he had to have carried half of the winter-blankets in here ... I guess the other half is on top of Mikey now. The sudden warmth had me nodding off but Donnie shook me awake again.

I didn't quite know the benefit of staying awake after a concussion but if Donnie says so. I noticed from Raph's behavior he was exhausted and if I remember correctly, which is doubtful at this point, I don't think Donnie got much sleep this week due to a new secret project he's been working on. "You know if you guys are tired you can go sleep or something. If you leave the light on I have no problem staying awake, so …"

"Will you just stop worrying about everybody else for a change?" Raph snapped, fully awake again and vicious temper back in place though it calmed down after a moment, "I swear you're worse than Splinter." he muttered and sagged back in his chair.

"I wasn't planning on sleeping either way, little turtle." Donnie smiled and removed the ice pack from underneath my head. "It's not good to leave it on for a long period of time." he mentioned.

"No way I'm gonna go to sleep now." Raph said quietly, I got the insinuation though. Sleeping after seeing your two youngest siblings plummet to their deaths was NOT a good idea. I send him a sad smile. I'd hold his hand but I forgot my hand was still too sore to move around, I didn't hiss but I frowned. Raph seemed to notice and slipped his hand under the blankets to hold onto mine.

"Mikey was nagging to come and see Thanny." Raph said to Donnie, who was rummaging through some old equipment he had stocked away in some dark corner of his lab.

"No, keep them separated for now. They both need rest." He said, I glared at the back of his head.

"Bossy doctor." I muttered. Raph smirked at that.

"What are you doing Donnie?" I asked when he all but crawled underneath his old desk to get to a box that he stacked underneath it.

"I'm searching for some plans I drew a couple of years ago." He said and pulled some old papers and books with him as he crawled back out.

"Why?" I asked, Raph was watching him with amusingly.

"Well, a couple of years ago I started on a prototype for an X-ray machine. I'm afraid this is not going to be the last time somebody breaks something and I want to be better prepared next time." He explained and rummaged through the papers he had just dug up. I snatched one of them and tried to make sense of the chaos.

"I do hope you stay on the right path Donnie, you'd make one hell of an evil genius." He didn't look up but I heard him laugh.

"Thanks I guess." Donnie said, as he paged through his notebooks to find the one he was looking for. He placed each one back with a disappointed 'no'.

" What is a couple of years ago?" Raph asked after a while.

"When I was fifteen I guess." Donnie said as he was paging through a notebook he wrote when he was twelve, even the title would acquire a degree of some sorts to understand. Don was smiling as he paged through his equations and graphs with nostalgia as if he'd been paging through a family album instead.

"You know normal fifteen year old boys have other things on their mind." Raph mumbled, I smacked him for that ... or I tried to, the blankets made it difficult to move around.

"Just because you were a disgusting teenager." I scolded, Raph had the decency to look embarrassed, "Donnie's the good one." I said proudly, meaning that Donnie as only one didn't go through a phase while going through puberty.

"What do you mean disgusting?" Raphie squeaked and sat up indignantly.

"Sorry to break it to you, but Mikey and I have found your stack of …"

"… that's enough out of you!" Raph interrupted me and glared though it lacked any ferociousness. Mikey had lost his comic books, who later turned out to be underneath his own bed, when we stumbled upon some magazines with scarcely dressed ladies on motorcycles underneath Raph's bed ... well actually we found one copy underneath Leo's bed as well but that potential piece of blackmail material is just too good to give up.

"Mikey! Come back here!" I heard Leo yell. I heard some roughhousing going on in the living room, followed by Mikey's whining. Don and Raph shot up from their seats and ran out of the lab. But not before Donnie shot me a look that clearly said 'Do NOT move or else'.

"I'm getting in that room one way or another, this game could go on all night!" Mikey yelled.

"What's going on here!" that was Donnie, I couldn't see anything from my place on the bed so I tried to sit up in order to see. My back didn't agree though, a flash of pain and I was back down. I punched the bed out of frustration.

"Fine! But only for a little while alright?" Donnie again. Did that mean Mikey was coming to see me? I tried to push myself up again, it hurt but I managed this time.

Raph and Leo were supporting Mikey from each side, he looked a lot better now. He looked tired and had a large bump on his head but otherwise he was alright. He broke out into a smile when he saw me and almost rushed to the bed on his own strength.

"Easy!" Donnie yelled. But Mikey stopped before the bed rather than jumped on it like his intention seemed.

"Hey, prison break?" I joked.

"Yeah, they got you too huh?" he leaned closer and pulled me in a hug. "I fear Donnie's crossing over to the dark side." He whispered. I laughed at that and hugged him as best as I could with one hand. "Thank you." He said so quietly I wasn't sure he had actually said it.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him as he pulled back.

"I'm alright, my brain is a bit scrambled but it was getting a bit boring in there anyways." his smile faded as he looked me over "You?" he asked carefully.

"I'm alright, my back's a bit messed up and I'll be a bit predictable at stone, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock for a couple of weeks but otherwise I'll be fine." I lifted the blanket and as best as I could lifted my hand "I come in peace." I joked again, I got a more satisfying reaction out of Mikey. Though Leo and Donnie smiled as well.

"You're nuts you know that?" he said but laughed anyways.

"Well yeah, I kinda have to be growing up with you guys." I smiled, they helped Mikey sit down in the chair.

"What's Donnie doing by the way?" Mikey asked as he nodded to where Donnie was once again rummaging through his old notebooks.

"Basically he's trying to build hospital equipment from regular household materials." I said and laughed as Donnie threw us an annoyed glance over his shoulder but seemed to take this as a sign that things were getting back to normal.

"Seriously? He's like McGyver and Tony Stark's love child." Mikey joked unaware of the exchange.

"Minus the ego's." I added.

"Yeah, we got Raph and Leo for that." Mikey obviously took advantage of his weakened state, they wouldn't dare attack him now. But they had other ways to avenge their honor.

"Yeah, that's enough out of your delirious talk, come on you're getting back into bed." Leo said and all but dragged him out of the room.

"See you tomorrow Pinky!" He yelled before being shoved out into the bedroom. I waved and watched him go. Thank God he's alright.


End file.
